


Rain, Fire and a Night Fury

by invisiblewing



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Graphic Description, Mild Gore, Thunder and Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 06:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13405272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisiblewing/pseuds/invisiblewing
Summary: Seasonal thunderstorms have invaded Berk, and Mildew is using them as leverage to convince people Toothless should be killed. He is the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, right?This story is a cover of the TV episode "When Lightning Strikes."





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

"Another one?" Gobber asked.

"Looks like it," my dad said to him.

Being flying creatures, the dragons around Berk had decided the rooftops were excellent perches. They were, except for one thing. A standard rooftop was never gonna be able to hold anything larger than Toothless. Several roofs around the village had dragon-shaped holes in them. I thought it was kinda humorous, seeing these rough caricatures embedded in rooftops.

"All right, but the more I've got to fix, the longer it'll take," Gobber said back. "I think I'll need your help on this one, Hiccup."

"Um," I started. "You'd better recruit a whole lot more than us two."

"And why is that?" he asked.

"It looks like we're getting rain tonight."

"How can you tell?" my dad asked.

"Look west," I said matter-of-factly. There was a dark, ominous cloud in the distance. Normally, these storms were slow-moving beasts, which was both good and bad. Good because they took a long time to get here. Bad because once they got here, they stayed for a while.

"If you can hear me, meet in the plaza right now!" my dad shouted to the entire village. Within a minute or so, several doors opened and people came filing out toward us. Being chief meant you had some influence, even if it was on a whim. People murmured as they crowded around Gobber, me and my dad. "Everyone, please listen because we don't have a lot of time. We're all going to help in this. Get all the supplies you can find and help us patch these roofs. We need to get this done by sunset."

There was a general murmur of consent as the crowd dispersed. Most people began looking for supplies, which included boards, hammers, nails and pitch. And, as usual, there was a minority who didn't want to help. Because their houses weren't touched. They stood there in defiance, looking at my dad. And by "they," I meant just one person. Mildew. He was irritating enough to everyone in Berk that we forced him to live on the outskirts of town. Where he had plenty of company with himself.

"I'm not moving, Stoick," he said defiantly with a guttural rasp. Even the sound of his voice was irritating to me. I couldn't stand a thing about him. Every group of people had one of these yay-hoos. The kind of person you just want to hit because he'd look better with an unrecognizable face. Yeah, that was Mildew. A bona fide louse.

"Oh, good!" I said before my dad could do anything. My dad and Mildew looked at me quizzically, which is exactly what I wanted. Mildew's attention where it shouldn't have been. I waited for a brief second, trying to time it just right. "Well, if you're not gonna move yourself, the wood they're carrying will do it for you." I glanced to my left.

"Huh?" Mildew asked, like a yak who was half-asleep. Just as he turned his head to his right, Gobber rammed into him with a long plank at walking speed. Mildew grunted in pain as the wood Gobber was carrying threw his balance, causing him to fall.

"Mildew, if you're not gonna do anything, just leave!" Gobber shouted.

"I believe I will," he said with a groan as he got up, which made his voice sound even more irritating. "But you know you're just going to have to fix all these roofs again in the future." He slowly turned like he was five hundred years old and limped back toward his home, his dumb pet sheep, Fungus, in tow.

After he got out of earshot, I turned to my dad. "Can we please ship him somewhere other than here?" I begged.

My dad sighed. "No. I don't like him any more than you do, Hiccup."

"Seriously, how does he earn his keep here?" I asked.

"Cabbage," Gobber said matter-of-factly as he continued walking. That was something I could always count on from him: being literal.

"All he ever does is try to get Toothless killed," I said as if Gobber hadn't even mentioned anything. "And nobody does a thing about it. I think he makes a hobby of taking all of his anger out on me. Just because I'm Hiccup, the little runt who had a stupid idea one day..."

"All right, Hiccup, I get it," my dad said, turning toward me. I stopped immediately, knowing I had stepped across a line I shouldn't even have approached. "Just get over there and help Gobber." He had that tone in his voice that said his patience was wearing dangerously thin.

I sighed as I trudged over to Gobber's house. He already had a wooden ladder up to his roof, so I scaled it and began hammering boards over a large, roughly Gronckle-shaped hole. I knew if my frustration with Mildew got to my hands, I'd be repairing Gobber's roof by myself. So I took my time, trying to let the anger dissolve. After the boards were in place, I grabbed a bucket of pitch. Since I was the youngest person on this roof, Gobber asked me to apply the pitch, which translated to kneeling and bending down for a while. Something he couldn't do as well.

For what it was worth, I always felt coating a patch was the hardest part of fixing a roof. Because if you had even just a tiny leak, every single raindrop from a thunderstorm would seemingly find that hole. I looked at the sky, noticing we had a few hours of daylight left. Should be okay.

I got down off of Gobber's roof and looked around the village. Houses were in different stages of being fixed, some complete and others just barely getting started. But it looked like we were gonna finish in time for a downpour. They happened a handful during the summers. Most of the time, the rain was accompanied by lightning, and we had storms run the gamut. Some had only one small flash somewhere in the clouds. Others gave a four-hour-long light show that made it look like daylight outside. We just had to see what this storm had for us.

* * *

  
"Well, it'll do for tonight," my dad said. He was sitting at our table with me and Gobber. Toothless was chowing down on a basket full of fish. I figured being in the chief's family kinda helped keep our house untouched. Because we were a good way from the plaza, where most of the dragons in Berk knew they could find food, our house generally stayed intact.

"Stoick, we can't just keep repairing the roofs. If this keeps up, we'll be out of supplies." It took him a long time to say those two sentences, so I guessed he didn't want to admit Mildew was right.  
Outside, a light patter started, telling us the rain was here. Right on time. There was a low rumble in the distance, which wasn't Toothless because he was eating. The only other possibility was thunder. And I had a sinking feeling about it. Just something here wasn't quite right.

"Oh!" I shouted. And dashed toward the door. Opened it and saw only the occasional raindrop. While fixing roofs today, I had forgotten about our own. It wasn't broken, but I had forgotten to cover the skylight above my bed.

"Where are you going, son?" my dad asked. Toothless paused eating and looked at me curiously.

"Gotta-cover-the-skylight-be-right-back!" I said quickly, dashing outside. I slammed the door behind me and tore into the armory. Grabbed a large sheet of thick leather and a bucket of pitch. I knew it wasn't going to be a sure seal, but it would do in a pinch.

I got back home to find Gobber already on our roof. My dad was on the ground, waiting for my return. I heaved the leather in my dad's direction and watched as it fell miserably short. It was like throwing a piece of parchment without balling it up first. "Oh, come on," I mumbled. My dad grabbed the leather and climbed the ladder, where Gobber helped him hold the sheet in place. They had gotten the leather over the square hole in our roof when I reached them. I slathered pitch over each side, and we pressed the leather for about a minute to make sure it was gonna hold for at least some time.

There was another thunderclap, this time much closer. Instead of a rumble, it sounded like a distant explosion. A muffled roar came from inside our house. Toothless was worried because we had inexplicably left him alone when a storm was approaching. I figured he was gonna tear this house down if we left him for too long.

Thankfully, Gobber noticed Toothless also. "Go take care of your dragon," he said. "I'll take the bucket and ladder back to the armory." Without saying a word, I nodded and nearly jumped to the ground, barely touching the ladder. Dashed around to the front door and paused. Slowly opened the door, trying to avoid startling Toothless. Cautiously peeked inside, seeing my dragon's worried eyes. I opened the door a little wider and walked in. Closed it behind me quietly and walked over to Toothless.

"It's okay, bud," I said, stroking him underneath his chin. He gratefully closed his eyes with a low murmur. His way of saying thanks.

My dad and Gobber walked in a few minutes later. "Oh, good," my dad said. "Toothless didn't burn the place d-."

A loud thunderclap sounded, masking my dad's last word. Like it was an explosion at close range. Toothless shrieked and ran upstairs. This was his first thunderstorm with me, so I was feeling it out, trying to get a handle on how he was gonna react.

I followed him up the stairs and found him on his rock, shivering in fright. His eyes were wide in panic, unable to focus on anything for more than a second or two. There wasn't a whole lot I could do about the thunder, but I could at least keep him company. I sat down next to Toothless, and he edged closer to me, putting his head in my lap. He was quivering with an occasional sound each time he exhaled. Toothless was so scared he had almost no control over his breathing.

"It's gonna be fine, buddy," I said quietly. I stroked his head, making sure to tell him I was gonna stay here and protect him. And above all, I couldn't show any worry.

"HICCUP!" Gobber shouted from downstairs.

I looked at Toothless reassuringly, then peeked over the rafters at Gobber. He had the door open and was staring anxiously at something through the wall of water that had begun to crash down on Berk. "What!?" I shouted back over the din.

He motioned me toward the door. I walked downstairs to see what he was so interested in. Looked through the doorway to find a lone Deadly Nadder stumbling around. It was maybe twenty feet away and looked eerily similar to Stormfly.

"Isn't that Stormfly?" he asked. The dragon had a light blue back, just like Stormfly did. I caught sight of one of its eyes. The only word I could have described it with was "panic." Complete, gripping panic. If it was Stormfly, I wondered where Astrid was. Next to me, she was the Viking who was the most protective of her dragon. Surely she wouldn't let her dragon wander around during a rainstorm like this.

"I've gotta get her inside!" I shouted. But it was muffled by a dull flash and a moderately loud thunderclap. The lightning had probably hit somewhere on the island, but wasn't too close to the village.  
Stormfly reared up slightly and roared at the top of her lungs as I ran outside, shouting her name. No response from her. She wasn't going to pay attention to anyone, at least not for now. Not when she was immobilized by fear. Stormfly wandered to her right in stupor just as another flash appeared with a thunderclap not a second later. My ears were ringing slightly after that explosion, but I had to get to Astrid's dragon.

I had stepped out into the rain just as she reared back again, wings spread completely out and shot a streamer of white fire straight upwards. Like her fire was gonna stop the storm in its tracks. I got another step when a blindingly bright white flash immobilized my feet. A shockwave rocketed through my chest, and my ears felt like they exploded from the pain. Normally, there's a lag between lightning and thunder. On this occasion, they were simultaneous. I quickly crouched and curled into a ball, gripping my ears, screaming in paralyzing agony. I couldn't hear a thing, not even my own voice.

My dad scooped me into his arms and dashed back inside. He slammed the door, which made absolutely no sound at all. A few dishes clattered from the shelves on the wall, adding to the silence of the moment.

Upstairs, I heard something about twenty seconds after that lightning bolt: a muffled roar from Toothless. I felt like I was underwater. My ears had lost most of their ability to hear, and movement just seemed like it was ten times slower for me. Toothless roared at the top of his lungs again, but for all I could tell, he was simply grunting. But I knew for certain he was scared because I heard it in his tone. He began jumping around upstairs, which echoed not only through the house but my head as well.

"Hiccup! Talk to me, son! Say something!"

Another thunderclap, this time from a distance.

"Come on, Hiccup!"

"D-Dad?"

"Oh, for Odin's sake, don't scare me like that again!"

"Wh-what happened?" I asked in a daze.

"You were ten feet from a lightning bolt! You seriously don't remember?"

Slowly, the room stopped swimming. My dad's worried face came into focus as Toothless continued his tantrum. I tried to wriggle away from him, only hearing what Toothless was doing. I was afraid of what he might do if I didn't show up soon.

"L-lemme help Toothless!" I said, trying to regain full movement. My dad let me go, and I staggered toward the stairs. I fell forward, my hands crashing into the second step in front of me. I slowly crawled my way up toward Toothless, hearing his roars echo around inside my head.

As I reached the top of the staircase, I stood, wobbling slightly, to find Toothless with his eyes wide in terror. I stayed at the end of the staircase with my hand on the wall for support, hoping he would see me. I knew better than to rush in and try to comfort him, because that would make me a target. I stood tall, trying my hardest not to show my unsteady balance, the pain in my ears or the fear I had about Stormfly.

Toothless caught a glimpse of me and leaped in my direction, landing just feet away from my right leg. He almost knocked me over asking for my protection. I cautiously put my hand out, and he rubbed underneath it, thinking I was gonna protect him from the storm. But I was just as scared as he was. And it wasn't just that a lightning bolt barely missed my head.

"C'mon, buddy," I said with a quaver in my voice. "L-let's get downstairs." I began trodding back to ground level with my hand against the wall for balance, Toothless right behind me. I knew he was way closer to my back than he usually was when he followed me around, but I was fine with it. The only thing I could do was stay with him, let him know everything was gonna be okay. And deep down, I knew that was a lie. Because of Stormfly.

I sat down on the floor, which was a little trick I liked to use when Toothless was upset. By sitting down, Toothless became taller than me, putting him in a little more of a protective mood. It was a way to get his mind off of being upset or scared.

It worked, just like all the other times. Toothless might have taken a minute or so to calm down, but he finally came back to earth. He nudged me in the shoulder with his snout, grunting slightly. To me, it meant he was asking if I was okay. I tried to pretend like it and scratched him gently underneath his chin. He closed his eyes and murmured quietly.

"That's better," I whispered to him. "It's gonna be okay." I put my hand on his side, feeling his heart race.

Another thunderclap, this time from a little bit of distance. Toothless jumped slightly and tensed. I felt just how scared he was, with the fear of the unknown. To him, he was afraid that one of those explosions might hit him.

"Looks like we can't go out there for a while," Gobber said. "Hope you and your dragons don't mind being stuck with me." Nobody said anything.

Just before Gobber shut the door, I caught a glimpse of Stormfly. She was slumped over, but still standing. Her eyes were glassy, which probably meant she was dead on her feet. To the gods, this was a minor blip for them. Because the rain continued falling. The lightning continued flashing. And the thunder continued rolling.

Toothless curled slightly around my back, his head to my left and his tail to my right. He gave a quiet groan that had a noticeable quaver to it.

"We're gonna be okay, bud," I whispered, stroking the top of his head. He looked at me with worry. I wished I could find something to ease his state of mind, but there was nothing I could do. It was that helpless feeling, knowing your best friend was gonna suffer for a while, and you had to witness every minute of it.

I wrapped my arms gently around Toothless’ neck, just in front of his saddle. It was my way of telling him I wasn't going anywhere. That he was gonna be safe as long as I was with him.

The rain continued falling. The lightning continued painting the sky with white. And the thunder continued rolling. But I stayed next to Toothless throughout the entire storm.

* * *

  
If I had to guess, the storm had lasted about four hours, give or take. About normal for one of these monsters. I stood up, my hips and knees groaning from being so stiff for that long. Limped toward the door. My dad was asleep in his bed across the house, snoring much more quietly than normal. Thornado wasn't too far away from him, sleeping. And Gobber was asleep with a small river of his drink spilling out of his prosthetic mug.

I thought it was interesting that Thornado was pretty calm throughout the entire night. I figured all of the dragons in Berk were going to be running amok because of the constant explosions. But I never heard anything come from him.

I quietly opened the door and walked out. Closed it. And looked around, surveying the damage to Berk.

No damage, excluding one dragon. Who was still dead on her feet. I walked closer to Stormfly, my boot and peg leaving a one-of-a-kind trail in the water-soaked land. There was a quiet buzzing around the Deadly Nadder in front of me. The flies around Berk must have gotten the message pretty quickly, because there were several of them around this dragon.

"Oh, gods," I whispered. I had no idea a split-second could do so much damage to one living thing. I almost threw up looking at Stormfly.

She was standing somehow, her body twisted at a disturbing angle. Her head was nearly touching the ground. Her wings? Tattered. Her left wing was nowhere to be seen; only a bloody stump remained.  
But what really shocked me was her feet. The tops of her feet were blown open, revealing bone, muscle and tendons. A small amount of blood was pooling around her feet, but most of it had been washed away by the rain. Adding to the savagery of the moment was the sight of blood dripping from her eyes, nose and mouth.

This was bad. Someone had to tell Astrid about this. I slowly trudged my way toward her house, mulling over how I was gonna break the news to her. I had about fifty different ways to say it, and none of them sounded good.

I took the steps toward her door. And knocked, hoping somehow I wouldn't have to say it.


	2. Chapter 2

Astrid's door creaked open slowly, revealing one of her eyes. She looked at me for a second before swinging the door open. Her face was ashen and her eyes were red, probably from not sleeping the entire night. She had an anxious look on her face, which told me her day was only gonna get worse.

"H-Hiccup, have you seen Stormfly?" Her voice was hoarse from worry.

I froze on the spot, even though I had rehearsed it a thousand times on my way over here. There is nothing you can do to "get better" at telling someone about the death of a friend. If anything, each time makes it worse.

"Astrid, I-I'm sorry," I mumbled. "If there was something I could have done to help her, I would've done it."

"What do you mean?"

"A…uh, a…lightning…," I choked out, unable to finish my thought.

Her hand covered her mouth as her eyes went wide. "Is she still alive?"

I looked down, but didn't say anything because she got the message quickly enough. My eyes were beginning to water because I felt so bad about what Astrid was going through. It was the same kind of bleak, hopeless feeling I had when my dad and his crew ripped Toothless away from me that day in the arena. When I was in the middle of my "rite of passage."

"Wh-where is she?" Astrid said.

I took a deep breath. Glanced behind myself, toward home. There was a barely recognizable shape near my house. I pointed at it and said, "Over there."

Astrid stepped out of her house and quietly closed her door. Started walking without even letting me know she was going. I followed behind her as she closed the distance between us and Stormfly. We were about halfway up the hill leading to her dragon when Astrid picked up the pace a little. And suddenly, she stopped. We weren't five feet away from Stormfly, who was in that same position, head and neck twisted nearly halfway around, blood slowly pooling in front of her feet. And her feet were still blown open. I just couldn't get over the fact that being struck by lightning in the head could do so much damage all over.

"It's not Stormfly," Astrid said after a pause. She sounded absolutely sure of herself.

I did a double take. Of course this was Stormfly in front of us. Was she in denial because she didn't wanna have to accept that her dragon was dead? Or was she right, and somehow her dragon was still alive?

"What?" I asked after a few seconds.

"This isn't Stormfly," she repeated.

"Are…are you sure about this?"

"Positive," she said. "Stormfly doesn't have a band of yellow running down her side."

I looked closer, trying to see what she was seeing. And sure enough, there was a narrow yellow stripe between the dragon's blue top and white bottom. I blinked, making sure I wasn't seeing things. But that stripe never disappeared.

I sighed, trying to show I was relieved, but if anything, I felt a little worse. Sure, there was a chance Stormfly was still alive, and I was gonna help Astrid find her. But I felt bad because this Deadly Nadder was one of the dragons living in Berk. One of _our_ dragons, even if it didn't belong to anyone.

"Do, uh…do you know where Stormfly might be?" I asked slowly.

"Maybe," she said. "But I think I'm gonna need help." I looked at her blankly, still reeling from having to examine the Nadder who was slaughtered by Thor last night. Astrid turned toward me and asked, "Do you mind if I join you and Toothless for a morning flight?" There was no change in her expression. It was nothing romantic, just the I'm-on-a-mission tone of voice.

"Well, I don't see why not," I replied, trying to sound at least somewhat animated. But I just couldn't do it. Maybe Toothless could help in changing that. "Be right back," I said. I turned toward home to fetch my dragon. Hoped we could find Stormfly within the near future.

I opened the door to find Gobber, my dad and Thornado still asleep. Toothless was curled up in the middle of the floor, about ten feet away from the hearth. He blearily opened his eyes and looked in my direction as I walked in and shut the door. He yawned. Stretched. And stood up. Padded over to me and murmured softly, rubbing against my side. "Hey, bud. How are you feeling?" I asked quietly. He looked at me with his deep, yellow-green eyes.

Being around dragons was almost magical. Being around Toothless, even more so. No matter how bad a day I was having, he could always make it better. I thought it was nearly impossible to be in a surly mood around him.

I silently opened the door to keep the other occupants of the house from waking. Toothless walked outside and waited. I followed, closing the door behind me.

I held his gaze for a little bit, trying not to tip him off about what I was thinking. Toothless kept staring at me, waiting for something to happen. "Let's go flying," I said quietly. Toothless jumped forward, nearly crushing me against the door, his body wriggling with excitement. He knew exactly what was coming. A victory lap around the island, followed by breakfast.

"Okay. Okay, yes, you're excited. I can tell," I said to him. I gently pushed him backwards so I could get some space between me and him, which was much harder than it sounded. In retrospect, I should have stood on the _other_ side of him, then told him we were flying. Oh, well. There was always next time.

Toothless bounded away from me, getting into open air as I followed. I smiled a little as I watched him for a moment, knowing we went through this routine every morning. And it never got old. As I moved away from the house, I looked down to make sure I knew where the ground was. And stepped.

I heard a frightened squawk come from Toothless as he skidded to a halt near Astrid and the Nadder Thor had killed last night. My vision snapped upward, instantly focusing on Toothless. "Oh, man," I mumbled under my breath. I walked toward where Toothless and Astrid were standing. Toothless was frozen in place, staring at the Nadder. He was locked into full concentration, but wasn't moving. It was as if he could gather every bit of information he needed ten feet away from the dragon.

I knew walking up behind him was a recipe for a fireball, so I took a roundabout path to get to him. I made sure I was in his field of vision before I approached. As soon as I saw his eyes, I whispered, "Hey, Toothless. How 'bout a morning flight?" No response.

"What is he getting at?" Astrid asked.

"I have no idea," I told her. I slowly crept toward Toothless, trying to keep from startling him. I got maybe five feet away from him when he grunted and blinked. He switched his gaze from the Nadder to me. I took advantage and stepped between him and the other dragon. Closed the distance between us and stroked the top of his head. Toothless closed his eyes and murmured in comfort, knowing I was still here for him.

"Is he okay?" Astrid said from behind me.

"Yeah, come on," I said.

Before Astrid could move, a raspy, condescending voice startled the three of us. It was Mildew. "Astrid, I am _so_ sorry about your dragon,” he said slowly. “It's just awful that Thor had to do this. And, you know, I was starting to like your dragon a little bit. Really, if there is anything I can do for you, please tell me." Toothless growled because he liked Mildew about as much as he liked eels.

I closed my eyes in annoyance and was ready to retaliate when I realized it was gonna be hopeless. Mildew was the kind of person who was never gonna budge, even if he knew he was hysterically wrong.

 _Not now. Don't do it,_ I thought. I hoped Astrid was good at reading my mind, because he was ready to immerse himself in sadistic pleasure if she opened her mouth. Before she could say anything, an idea hit me, so I took the opening. "That was very timely of you, Mildew," I said matter-of-factly, turning toward him. I let the moment hang, waiting for him to stumble. I was trying to let him know I was onto something. The way he was talking to Astrid just didn't sound natural enough to be coincidental timing.

"You don't have to mind me, I'm just going to the great hall for breakfast," he said with a sideways glance in my direction. He continued walking, Fungus beside him. I stood there in confusion because of his expression. Mildew wasn't the kind of person who was anywhere near gifted at giving his condolences about something. But his face looked like he was trying to hide a smirk from me. And that meant one of two things: either he was thrilled another dragon was dead, or he really _was_ hiding something. Like Stormfly, maybe?

I waited for him to get out of earshot and said to Astrid, "Was it just me, or was he being a little too obvious about that?"

"It sounded like he practiced it. D'you think he's hiding something?" she said. Just like I had hoped a few seconds ago, Astrid read my mind perfectly. Besides, if Stormfly weren't at his house, it wasn't like we were gonna waste a lot of time there. "I say we check, just in case."

"Sounds good to me," I replied. Hopped onto Toothless’ back and helped Astrid up behind me.

Toothless spread his wings and jumped, getting air underneath us. "Mildew's first, then survey the island?" I asked.

"Let's go. He's never gonna be able to catch up with us."

"All right, bud," I said to Toothless. "Mildew's house first."

He took off, letting me control where he went. Toothless was familiar with the way I told him where to go. He knew that tone of voice meant to let me control our flight. I worked my peg until we had turned in a half-circle, facing directly toward Mildew's house. It wasn't hard to spot, mainly because it was completely by itself. Away from town. Where nobody had to worry about him.

Toothless flew in a straight line toward Mildew's house and prepared to land in the middle of his cabbage garden.

"Not here, bud," I said, pulling gently upward on his saddle. Toothless grunted and hovered for a little bit. I directed him forward until we were somewhat behind the house. I didn't want to give Mildew any reason to get even more angry with me. Dragon tracks in his cabbage garden would have definitely done it.

I jumped off Toothless’ back and helped Astrid off. "Stay here, okay?" I said, making eye contact with my dragon. He sat back on his haunches, waiting for me to give him the signal.

"He listens well," Astrid observed.

"Thanks," I said. I wasn't going any farther than thanking Astrid. Not when she was looking for her dragon.

I walked casually toward Mildew's front door, noting with dismay that my tracks were gonna be my undoing if he went to my dad about this. Pulled on the door. It rattled, but never opened. Pushed. More rattling, no opening. Most houses on Berk had a front and back entrance. There was a reason for it too. Say, if an Outcast raid happened, we had two different ways to escape from our houses. Mildew, on the other hand, only had one way in and one way out of his house. Not a good plan, especially if the only way in or out was blocked.

"It's locked," I said, looking around the corner at Astrid. "Can you see in through the windows?" Every house on Berk, including Mildew's, had open windows that could be covered with heavy sheets of leather.

"Uh-uh. Too tall," Astrid replied.

"How far do you need to go?"

"A foot, maybe?"

I walked back to Toothless and got his attention. Directed him over to Astrid. "Right here, buddy," I told him. He crouched letting Astrid get on his back. She never sat down on his saddle, which he noticed. Toothless grunted in curiosity. I knew he was about to move, so I stepped closer, holding eye contact with him. I kept it neutral, letting Toothless know he needed to stay still. "Anything?" I asked Astrid.

She grabbed onto the ledge to steady her balance and peered in. For a moment, I was thankful Mildew wasn't smart enough to cover his windows. "I don't think so," she said.

"His house is essentially one giant room. If you don't see Stormfly quickly, she's probably not here."

"Stormfly? Come on, girl," Astrid said into the house. I waited silently, making sure to keep Toothless from moving. Astrid stayed where she was for a beat, then slowly sat down on Toothless’ back. "Nothing," she said with a deep breath.

I waited for her to suggest a location, but she continued looking down. Toothless crouched slightly, giving Astrid the option of getting off his back. But she stayed there. "Do you have any idea where she might be?" I asked her.

Astrid shrugged. "The cove? Either that or the forest on the other side of the island."

The cove was the last place I thought Stormfly might be. Thunder would echo around inside those walls for eternity, especially if a lightning bolt struck close enough. Stormfly would have been scared right out of the cove if she had visited there last night. But to humor Astrid, I said, "Okay, let's see what we find." I jumped onto Toothless’ back in front of Astrid and hooked in with my peg. We took off. Toothless was still letting me decide our course, so I turned us around again, heading for the cove. I just hoped he'd let me take him there. Toothless knew the cove wasn't a good place for him. That was his prison when I had first shot him down. I took him there for punishment when I had Torch waddling around Berk.

Predictably, once the cove was within sight, Toothless squawked and tried to adjust his flight so that we didn't go there.

"What's gotten into him?" Astrid asked.

"I'll tell you later," I said. Turned my attention toward Toothless. "It's okay, bud. We're gonna stay with you."

I fought him the entire way to the ground. Toothless landed in a heap, panting. "It's okay," I said again. Dismounted and helped Astrid off his back. I kept my left hand on Toothless’ neck, telling him I wasn't going to abandon him again. I turned my attention to Astrid and said, "You're on your own here."

She looked at me quizzically. Before she said anything, I continued. "Toothless will throw a fit if I leave him alone in here." She nodded in understanding after a few seconds, probably remembering this was the place she first met Toothless. And started walking.

From my vantage point, the cove looked completely normal, except for a slightly higher water level in the stream and lake. I knew rainfall tended to collect here, simply because the cove was at a lower elevation than the surrounding area. I glanced around, keeping my hand on Toothless. I felt his tension from just being here, so I hoped Astrid would hurry.

A quick shimmer from one of the low-hanging bushes caught my attention. It was maybe twenty feet to Astrid's left.

"Astrid!" I called. She turned to me. "That bush to your left might have something behind it." I pointed with my right hand. She turned just as it shimmered again, catching her attention. I watched as she slowly crept toward the bush. She was about five feet away when it exploded. Astrid yelped in surprise as three Terrible Terrors jumped out of the bush and flew away. You could always count on those little monsters to be somewhere inconvenient.

"That wasn't funny," she said from across the way.

"I had no idea."

Astrid continued her search for a short while, then returned to me and Toothless.

"Nothing," she said.

"Would Stormfly know of any caves on the island?" I asked. The idea of a cave made sense to me. If the entrance was sloped correctly, water wouldn't collect inside a cave. Get deep enough, and thunder doesn't sound so loud anymore. There was only one problem with this. We had about twenty different caves and tunnels on Berk.

Astrid shrugged. "Probably. We've been to several of them with the Academy."

"We'll find her," I said, trying to sound reassuring. "C'mon, let's go." Astrid jumped onto Toothless back behind me and we were airborne again. I'd have been willing to bet Toothless was ecstatic about leaving the cove for now.

"Let's start with places we've been for training," I suggested. I figured I had a fifty percent chance of looking like a genius. Maybe Stormfly would have gone somewhere familiar. Then again, if she was panicking, her choice would have been more random.

I knew of three openings on the far side of the mountain we had visited for training. One of them was a small entrance with no tunnel. Most likely, Stormfly wouldn't have taken shelter there for the night, but it never hurt to check.

That cave was the first one we approached. One glance told me there wasn't anything of interest there. Toothless landed and ran to the next opening. He put his nose to the ground and started sniffing, hopefully searching for a trace of Stormfly.

I felt Astrid begin to slide off the saddle. "Hang on, Toothless might be onto something," I said. Toothless grunted and followed a scent trail, much like a dog would do. It took him past two openings in the mountain, all the way to the tapered end of the ledge we were on. He looked up and gave a short roar. The kind of roar that told me he had found something of interest.

"Hang on," I said to Astrid. I hooked back into the stirrup. Toothless took off, headed upwards. He landed at the entrance of a cave I'd have bet nobody knew about. It was completely inaccessible, unless you had a dragon with you.

Toothless galloped into the cave with a grunt, then stopped suddenly. I felt Astrid’s weight lean into me for a second before we relaxed. A high-pitched, staccato warble responded, which startled Astrid.

"That sounds like Stormfly!" She immediately jumped off the saddle and ran forward. And stopped after about three steps. For the record, I had no idea how she could distinguish Stormfly's call from any other Nadder. They all sounded the same to me. But we had a new problem. The Nadder who had warbled from the darkness wasn't coming out. And Astrid couldn't see six inches past her face.

"Stormfly?" she asked. Another warble. "C'mon, girl. It's gonna be fine," she coaxed. Another warble, followed by what sounded like hard leather brushing against rock.

Astrid took another step forward and stumbled slightly with a gasp. "Oh, no," she said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The ground is nothing but sharp rocks. One of them just went through my boot."

I groaned quietly. Toothless must have stopped quickly because of these rocks. And I knew Stormfly wasn't gonna move because of the ground. Astrid just had one of those stalagmites go through her boot, although her tone sounded like it hadn't pierced her foot. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It didn't go through my foot." She paused for a beat then asked, "Can Toothless shoot anything other than fireballs?"

"Yeah, but he needs something in front of him to look at, like a piece of wood."

Astrid sighed in irritation and backpedaled slightly. "All right. I know Stormfly is to the left. Have Toothless shoot a fireball in that direction." She pointed slightly to our right.

"Toothless, plasma blast," I said, pointing. With a high-pitched grunt, Toothless shot a fireball that didn't travel more than ten feet before it collided with the wall. A hollow, echoing explosion filled the air for a second or so. Stormfly gave another warble.

The fireball gave us enough light to see what we were up against. Stormfly was about ten feet to the left of where the fireball had exploded. Maybe fifteen feet away from us in total. The ground was nothing but thin, razor-sharp rock fragments. Perhaps we could clear them out of the way?

"Can I try something crazy?" I asked.

"For you, that's normal," Astrid pointed out. I wasn't gonna argue, mainly because she was right.

"Here, take this. See if you can cut out a path on the ground." I took my peg off and touched her shoulder with it.

"What…Hiccup are you serious!?"

"Just try it. But be careful, because I can still feel pain through that."

Astrid turned to face me and said, "Liar." She grabbed the peg out of my hand and brought it down. The ground beneath the foot shattered, leaving fragments of thin rock behind.

"Well, that _kinda_ worked," I said. "How're ya gonna get the fragments out of the way?"

"Dunno," she said tersely. And continued hammering. More rocks fragmented, more shards to move out of the way.

After several more strikes, Astrid paused and said, "Stormfly? Talk to me, girl." Stormfly gave a quiet warble. Astrid turned to her left and continued hammering her way toward her dragon.

"Can you get to her?" I called into the cave. My voice echoed slightly as I heard Astrid progressing toward her dragon.

"Uh, yeah, but Stormfly's in big trouble," she replied.

"What's going on?"

"She can't walk." Astrid sounded worried again. I knew this was really bad. Stormfly's only means of locomotion on the ground was walking.

"Do I need to get someone else?" I asked.

"I don't think we have another choice. I'll stay here with Stormfly while you go find someone."

"Yeah, about that, I think I'll need my leg back," I pointed out.

"Oh." Astrid shuffled through the broken rocks, kicking them slightly out of the way as she returned my peg. I strapped it on.

"We'll need a signal when we get back." She nodded. I climbed onto Toothless’ back and clicked into the stirrup. Toothless turned around and jumped, getting air underneath us once more.


	3. Chapter 3

Toothless approached the plaza from the air, where a small crowd greeted us. And by "greet," I meant "glare." Mildew was near the front, standing with my dad. Both of them had their arms folded, which told me I was in trouble. If Mildew was able to convince my dad about something concerning me, then I knew it was quite a heinous crime.

As Toothless’ feet hit the ground, he turned toward Mildew and snarled.

"It's okay, bud," I said, putting my hand on top of his head. He quieted down, but didn't stop rumbling. I got off Toothless’ back. Turned toward my dad and asked, "What's the complaint of the day?"

"Mildew found your footprints by his house," my dad said with no change in his expression.

I didn't have time for this. Astrid was waiting and Stormfly was getting weaker by the minute. "Um, can we talk about this in an hour or so? Astrid and Stormfly are…"

"NO," he said forcefully. I quickly shut my mouth. "Why were you there?"

I closed my eyes briefly, knowing any answer I gave him was gonna be wrong. "Great," I mumbled before deciding on the truth. "I thought Mildew had dragon-napped Stormfly." My dad raised his eyebrows slightly, which was a signal to explain further. "When Astrid and I found the dead dragon outside our house, Mildew walked by and faked sympathy about the dragon."

"Me? Fake?" Mildew asked. "I was being sincere!"

"Since when have you actually _liked_ having dragons around!?" I shot at him.

"Oh, there are only certain dragons I actually appreciate here," he said at an excruciatingly slow pace. He must have known I was in a hurry, so he made sure to keep me here on the spot for as long as possible.

"Yeah. Dead ones," I said sardonically. "And that dragon wasn't Astrid's," I added before anyone could do anything.

"No?" he said. It sounded fake again. "Well, it certainly looked like him."

" _Her,_ " I countered.

"No, boy, not Astrid. The dragon!"

"Yes, _her_ name is Stormfly. And she's in trouble if we don't help out."

"Bah!" Mildew spat. "That dragon will be fine! Maybe _she_ just doesn't want to be around your Night Fury."

That comment threw me totally off-guard. I blinked in confusion when Mildew added, "It would have been a shame to see Astrid's dragon dead. But as long as that Night Fury's around, more dragons will be killed." He said it without feeling, totally contradicting the lies that were flowing out of his mouth mere seconds ago. "After all, the Night Fury is the offspring of lightning and death itself. You don't think Thor will let him live here without consequences, do you?"

"DOES ANYONE EVEN CARE ABOUT ASTRID!?" I shouted to everyone in the plaza. I was sick and tired of being put on the spot just because I happened to show up at exactly the wrong time. "Her dragon is injured and needs help getting back home!" I said, pointing in the general direction of the mountain.

"That wouldn't have happened if we didn't have a Night Fury here," Mildew chimed in.

"Yeah, we'd still be fighting dragon raids and losing our food stocks," I interrupted.

"Really, boy, why do you insist on keeping this monster around?" Mildew asked, generally ignoring my comment. "Thor's anger is only going to get worse."

"And just _how_ do you know that?" I probed.

"One word," Mildew prompted. "Barnstadt." Several of the villagers around us gave an audible gasp.

I knew this story and its hundreds of variations, although what supposedly happened took place about a decade before I was born. According to legend, Barnstadt was worse than what we had with Mildew. His normal state of wakefulness was one of profound intoxication. For years, he had been stealing items such as weapons, shields and valuable trinkets from people on Berk. Nobody was sacrosanct, even my dad or the chief before him. Several times, he nearly incited Berserker attacks on Berk, just because he was sadistic like that. As the story goes, Thor got increasingly angry with Barnstadt because his behavior had gotten more…um…lewd over time. Thor even sent warning signs, like making the masts of ships glow with an eerie light. We called it Freyr’s Light because, of course, Freyr was responsible for fair weather. So if Thor needed Freyr to help send a message during a storm, then we’d know it was mega-important. But Barnstadt never paid attention. So during one particularly bad thunderstorm, Thor came to Berk in the form of a ball of lightning and killed Barnstadt by striking him in the chest and head.

I had heard several versions of what had happened to Barnstadt when he was killed. One version simply stated he died on the spot from fright or from seeing Thor's face in person. Another said the lightning ball entered his chest and blew his head completely off his shoulders in a bloody mess, like it was a statement from Thor. And others were somewhere in between.

"Completely different!" I shouted back. "Name one time when Toothless has hurt anyone in this village after we fought the Red Death!"

I knew exactly where Mildew was gonna go with this. "He destroyed the armory when Outcasts were on their way here," he said matter-of-factly.

"And that hurt someone?" I said back.

"Well…he _could_ have!" Mildew said, stumbling in his argument. "Why did he do that when Outcasts were close? It seems like your Night Fury was interested in killing everyone here. Why, I don't think it would be a stretch to say this dragon is an Outcast." Some of the crowd mumbled at his accusation. I couldn't tell whether they supported or were against Mildew.

I froze. I had no retort. Shouting again was only going to make my position worse. Mildew raised his walking staff slightly and pointed the tip at my dragon. Toothless tried to back away, but the staff bonked him in the snout. "I don't think this dragon should…" he started, but couldn't finish his sentence. I knew Toothless was already on-edge just because Mildew was around. And this was all Mildew needed to do to provoke an attack.

Toothless lunged forward with a snarl and grabbed Mildew's walking staff out of his hands with his teeth. He crunched down in the middle of the staff, breaking it into two pieces. Toothless spit the broken staff out of his mouth and roared directly at Mildew's face. There was nothing I could do, not when Mildew had precipitated an attack like this. _I am so dead_ , I thought. I kinda thought Mildew was being intentional with it so that he could buy some of the villagers' respect. So he could spread his opinion on dragons.

Mildew turned his back on the crowd. Smirked at me after Toothless closed his mouth and said, "You should muzzle your dragon, Hiccup." He turned slowly and hobbled away, Fungus in tow. I was powerless to respond. I had no control over Toothless’ reaction. But the exact same thing would have happened with any dragon. I just hoped Mildew felt lucky, because if he would have done the same thing with Stormfly, he'd have ended up with a couple of tail spikes lodged in his midsection.

As Mildew got out of earshot, I said, "So he went from hating all dragons to loathing Toothless. That's just great."

"Toothless will be fine," my dad said. "Mildew was just worried that you or Toothless had stolen something from him."

"Oh, and his fake sympathy about Stormfly didn't matter!" I shouted. "What about this entire production that happened within the last five minutes!? You're just gonna let him walk all over me and Toothless?"

"Hiccup, why are you so concerned about this?" Gobber said. "You know there's a reason Mildew lives out of the way."

"Because he'll do anything to get our dragons killed! What am I supposed to do? Just let him kill Toothless? What about the Academy? What about defending our home? What about _me_?"

"He won't kill Toothless," my dad said with a tone of voice that sounded final. I gave up the argument anyway. It just wasn't worth it, not when I was trying to fight against someone who so aggressively defied any kind of logic.

I took a deep breath, trying to clear the proverbial smoke out of my vision before turning back to my dad. "Astrid's in trouble. Stormfly can't walk, and they need our help."

"Where are they?" he asked.

"A cave somewhere on the other side of the mountain. Stormfly must have flown there during the storm last night."

"And you say her dragon's injured?"

I nodded. "The ground is nothing but sharp rocks. Her feet are probably in tatters by now. And Astrid had one of those rocks go through her boot."

"All right. I'll get Thornado and meet you back here. Gobber, can you help Hiccup make a sling to carry Stormfly?"

"Don't need to," he replied. "We still have the one we used to move the injured Thunderdrum." He went into the armory, and I followed. Gobber immediately grabbed the sling he had placed neatly in a far corner, just in case we needed it again. I picked up a spare piece of wood about two feet in length to use as a torch when we got back to the cave.

My dad nodded and walked back to the house. He returned a couple minutes later on the back of Thornado. Gobber gave him the sling. "Ready?" he asked me.

"Ready," I said, getting onto Toothless’ back.

Thornado grunted as he took off. Toothless followed, taking the lead. We were headed toward the far side of the mountain. It didn't take long to find Astrid waving her arms at the entrance of the cave.

"What took you so long?" she asked as Toothless landed. He walked slightly into the cave to let Thornado land behind him with a dull thud.

I sighed in frustration. "Mildew." Got off Toothless’ back and held the tip of the plank about a foot in front of his snout. This was something I had taught him recently. A non-verbal command to start a fire. After a couple of fireballs wrenching sticks out of my hands (and pulling out several splinters), Toothless quickly got the idea about using a stream of fire, like when he's getting ready to lie down.

Toothless looked at the plank for a second and pulled in a short breath. A gentle stream of white fire leapt from his mouth to the wood, lighting it. He stopped after about two seconds. Torch lit with no problems. Perfect execution, if you ask me.

"Thanks, bud," I said. I scratched him gently under his chin. He closed his eyes and rumbled happily. "Stay here," I told him.

The fire illuminated the path Astrid had cleared using my peg. I let her go first, then me and my dad last. Each step was punctuated by the sound of sharp fragments of rock crunching under our feet. Astrid followed her path until it turned left to reveal an exhausted Stormfly curled against the far wall. The cave extended further, but considering the state of the ground we were standing on, there would have been no way Stormfly would have gotten very far.

As we got closer to Astrid's dragon, there was a large bloodstain on the ground formed by Stormfly tearing her feet on these rocks. They were still bleeding, and it didn't help that fragments of rocks were lodged in the soles of her feet.

Astrid bent down to begin removing the shrapnel, but Stormfly wouldn't let her touch her feet. Astrid tried again, provoking a hiss from her dragon. Normally, Stormfly was pretty receptive to Astrid. Except for today, when she must have been in a lot of pain. "She won't let me touch her," she confirmed.

"Well, somehow we've gotta get this sling around her," my dad pointed out.

"Do you think we can team-lift her? Or somehow drag her out?" I suggested.

"We don't have a choice," Astrid said. "Her feet can't touch the ground, and she's got more fragments in her belly." Astrid eased forward and placed one of her hands on Stormfly's snout. She whispered gently to her dragon, saying she was gonna be okay. That everything was gonna be fine. Stormfly relaxed slightly and took a deep breath.

"We have to take the fragments out of her underside," my dad said. "Then we can get the sling under her and get her out of here."

"Can you keep her still?" I said to Astrid. She nodded and kept her hand on her dragon's snout. I crept forward and saw fifteen or so miniature daggers sticking out of Stormfly's underside. Put the torch on the ground so I could use both hands. Gently wrapped my left hand around one of them and pulled. It came out with a drop of blood on the tip. But more importantly, Stormfly didn't react, which was good.

I grabbed another rock and pulled. Same result. On about the fifth shard, Stormfly jumped slightly with a grunt. "Is she okay?" I asked. Astrid nodded and kept her dragon's attention away from me. The rest of the fragments came out without complaint, which told me Stormfly's scales did a good job of protecting her.

"I think we're ready for the sling," I said to my dad. Checked the torch. It had about six inches left, so we had to get it done quickly. I turned around to find Toothless at the entrance of the cave looking at me with a worried expression. Thornado was also there watching the proceedings.

My dad walked toward Stormfly, his feet crunching over the rocks. "Keep her still," he said to Astrid. She nodded, never looking in his direction. Used his feet to break off several ground spikes. He was making a bare spot in the cave floor to let Stormfly rest on without further injuring her. The way he was looking at the path we had cleared earlier told me we weren't picking Stormfly up using manpower alone anytime soon. My thought was confirmed when my dad said, "I think we'll have to drag her out."

He placed the sling on the ground, the wind from it nearly extinguishing the torch. It flickered for a second before steadying again. "Get her to lie down on the leather, then we'll drag her out," my dad said to Astrid.

Astrid pulled gently at the horn on Stormfly's snout, trying to direct her onto the leather. Stormfly grunted quietly, torn between moving and staying still. It wasn't hard to see the hesitation in her eyes. After a short match of tug-of-war, Stormfly finally relented and collapsed on the leather sheet with a groan. She took another deep breath and sighed in pain.

My dad collected the ropes in the front of the sling, lifting Stormfly's head slightly. "I'll take the front," he said. "You two make sure her feet and tail don't touch the ground." He placed the ropes over his right shoulder and began walking forward, using the torch's light as a guide. We followed the path we had created earlier and slowly got Stormfly near the front of the cave. Just as the torch extinguished itself.

"Thank…goodness," Astrid said with a huff. We didn't need the torch anymore, but night was about to fall. As far as I could tell, there were no storms on the horizon, which was convenient.

"You and Toothless take the front," my dad commanded. "Thornado and I will carry the back."

"Okay," I said as I approached Toothless. He grunted as I neared him, thankful everyone was gonna be fine. Rubbed gently into my shoulder with his snout. Now if Mildew would have been here to see that…

I looped the ropes underneath Toothless’ saddle and got on his back. He knew what to do once he was airborne, because we found out from other experiences the leather was never gonna hold Stormfly's weight. Toothless and I had learned that he needed to hold onto the ropes with his front paws to help lighten the stress on his saddle.

"Ready?" my dad asked as Astrid joined me on Toothless’ back, wrapping her arms around my midsection. I nodded. He nodded back.

"Toothless, up," I said. He jumped, his wings working double time to make sure he could lift Stormfly. I felt his front legs adjust so that he had at least some purchase on the ropes. "Keep it slow, bud," I said, rocking backward with my peg slightly.

I heard Thornado grunt as he took off. Toothless tilted a little and then continued toward the village.

We had no major incident getting back to Berk, thankfully. Since Astrid's house was guarded by stairs, we brought Stormfly to her pen just outside of the house. And dragged her with the sling about halfway into the pen, her feet and tail facing outward.

In the dancing firelight coming from around the village, I saw several rock fragments sticking out of the soles of her feet. And all of them appeared to be lodged tightly. _This_ was gonna be difficult and painful, not only for Stormfly, but also for me and Astrid. Because we were gonna have to listen to Stormfly every time we pulled out a rock.

"Do you, uh, have any suggestions?" I stuttered to Astrid.

She tightened her lips and stared at her dragon's feet. And shook her head.

I took a deep breath. "I'll get the bandages and other supplies." Without waiting for her approval, I walked maybe twenty feet to the armory and grabbed what I needed. A large sponge, soft sheets of leather, forceps and a bucket of water. And a ridiculous amount of seaweed.

Gobber noticed me and asked, "Need any help?"

"Please," I replied. Returned to our group huddled around Stormfly. "All right. Here we go." I took another deep breath.

Using the forceps, I quickly grabbed onto a rock shard and pulled. Even though the rock came out cleanly, it took way more effort that I wanted, and blood began oozing out of Stormfly's foot. Stormfly gave a screech and kicked at the air just as I backed away from her. Her tail thrashed slightly, some of the spikes getting dangerously close to being airborne.

"Can you keep her company?" I asked Astrid over the din. She nodded and knelt by Stormfly's head. Whispered something as she stroked her dragon's head. It worked to calm her down somewhat, although her tail still had its spikes standing at attention.

Gobber came out of the armory and looked at what we were trying to do. "Ah, so you found her," he said to Astrid. My dad, Astrid and I glared at Gobber for being so dense at the moment.

"If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!" Astrid shouted at him.

"All right then," he said. "You stay by her. Hiccup, out of the way."

I moved, letting him do his thing. I knew there was a chance Stormfly was going to impale him with a tail spike or two, but Gobber was probably the man for this job anyway. When it came to something dire like this, he turned into a no-nonsense kind of person.

"Hold her leg down," he said. I walked up to Stormfly and put my hands gently on her right leg. "No, Hiccup, her _other_ leg." I sighed as I walked around her tail and knelt, placing my hands just above her left foot. "Make sure she doesn't kick."

Without checking to see if I was ready, he quickly got his prosthetic forceps into position. Using his right hand, he closed the forceps over another rock and yanked. Stormfly shouted again and tried to kick. It took all of my strength to hold her leg down as Gobber readied his forceps again.

I was tired after about four shards, and we still hadn't finished Stormfly's left foot. Gobber was working at a breakneck pace, trying to get this ordeal over. And not only was I tired, I also felt horrible for what Astrid and Stormfly had to go through. Sure, this was our only choice to get her on the mend, but everyone here had to experience the pain Astrid and her dragon were going through.

"Okay, only one foot left," Gobber said after inspecting Stormfly's left foot, which had become a bloody mess. Gobber looked at me and noticed I was worn out. "Stoick, can you help?" My dad nodded and held Stormfly's right leg down.

I grabbed the bucket of water and sponge. Began gently working it over Stormfly's left foot while Gobber and my dad started on her right. Immediately, I found what I was doing would have to wait. Stormfly was kicking both feet every time Gobber pulled out a rock. So my job became one of simply watching. And feeling completely helpless every time Stormfly shrieked into the night, every time a rock shard clattered to the ground, leaving a snail's trail of blood. I stood next to Toothless, hoping he could bring me a little solace. But the screeching never went away. Astrid's pained expression was still clearly visible to me.

"Get her feet cleaned and wrapped!" Gobber shouted to me.

I snapped back into the present and grabbed the bucket and sponge. Gently brought the sponge to Stormfly's left foot to clean it before applying the seaweed and bandages. Every time I touched her feet, she kicked slightly.

Gobber produced a second sponge, which me must have grabbed from the armory and began to work on Stormfly's right foot. She groaned in pain, but never thrashed her tail, which is what I was really worried about. She had already thrown about fifteen tail spikes when Gobber was removing the rocks from her feet.

We wrapped her feet in seaweed and bandages before Gobber and my dad turned in for the night, taking Thornado with them. Toothless and I stayed next to Astrid and her dragon. I was planning on keeping them company tonight. I wanted them to know that we were a team. That Toothless and I were never going to leave them.

I settled next to Stormfly's head, putting her between me and Astrid. Stormfly craned her neck slightly, sniffing at me. And gave me a gentle lick on the arm. Her way of saying thanks.

Astrid sighed and put her head in her hands. There was nothing I could say or do that would instantly heal Stormfly, and that was probably the worst part of this ordeal. That bleak, hopeless feeling when you know there is nothing you can do.

"Thanks, Hiccup," Astrid whispered as she stroked her dragon on the top of her head. Stormfly took a deep breath and sighed.

"Not a problem," I said. I knew it was a lie. But it didn't matter.

I watched as Toothless charred the ground, tromped on it and curled up. He looked at me before laying his head on his paws and closing his eyes.

"She's gonna be okay, isn't she?" Astrid asked.

I took a deep breath. "Yeah," I lied. "She's gonna be fine." In reality, I had no idea if Stormfly was gonna heal fast enough to stand without trouble again.

Astrid didn't reply. She only edged closer to her dragon and wrapped her arms around Stormfly's head. After a few minutes of looking out into the darkness, I heard her silently crying.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up a tired wreck. I was too worried about Stormfly and Mildew and Astrid and…well, you get the idea. It seemed all I did these days was worry. Worry about the dragons we had around. Worry about the people on Berk living with said dragons. Worry about traditionalists. Like Mildew.

Traditionalists were the people I worried about the most. Because they were resistant to change. They wanted to live their lives the "old way." And when it came to dragons, the old way was without them. No Toothless, no Stormfly, no Meatlug.

And then there were people who were on the fence about traditionalism. The ones who couldn't decide where they belonged. Were they supposed to support the idea of getting rid of dragons? Or were they supposed to be inviting to them? I worried about those people too. Because it was like gravity. You stand on a ledge, and a little push in the right direction is all it takes to fall. Those undecided souls were like that. It didn't take a super-convincing argument to swing their opinions one way or another.

Now if you put people who were undecided about dragons with Mildew? You get a whole bunch of traditionalists after the day's over. Because all it takes is a nudge in the right direction. And it seemed yesterday that Mildew was starting to work up to speed on convincing a horde of Vikings to join his cause. I couldn't prove it, but the reason the armory blew up wasn't because of Toothless. I thought Mildew had planted some kind of explosive there. And I knew…no, I was absolutely positive that Toothless wasn't an Outcast. But it was hard to get somebody like Mildew to stop pressuring others. Kinda like turning around a charging yak. Probably wasn't worth the effort.

I sighed, knowing the next few days were going to be tough for me and Toothless. And all the other dragons and riders on Berk. Because if we had one mistake, Mildew was gonna misconstrue it to his advantage. One more roof collapse, and everything I had worked for would be meaningless.

I looked around, seeing Toothless slightly curled around me. I had waited for Astrid to finish crying last night before moving next to Toothless. Didn't want her to think I was abandoning her when she needed someone there. I had thought about consoling her, but decided against it. She deserved to keep her dignity.

Astrid was still draped slightly over Stormfly's head. And Stormfly was asleep, telling me she was eventually going to be okay.

During the night, I somehow came up with an idea when I was thinking about Mildew and how much I didn't want him in Berk. His little comment two days ago about having to continually repair the roofs had stuck with me. He was right; we didn't have enough supplies to continually repair the roofs. But we _did_ have enough supplies to attack the problem from a different angle.

Perches.

Iron would most likely do the trick. I even had the overall design in my mind. The most important aspect of the perches was that they needed to be enticing for the dragons. I had learned over time that dragons will usually land on the tallest object they think will support their weight. Naturally, that meant they needed to be taller than the roofs nearby. Toothless was especially picky about this, as was Stormfly. Most Gronckles were impartial, and Monstrous Nightmares generally liked high places. Terrible Terrors? They weren't heavy enough to matter, although they liked to hide more than anything.

I felt Toothless stir from just behind me, so I decided to take advantage. Touched him gently on the side. He blinked a few times and looked at me with a quiet rumble.

"C'mon, buddy," I said. I stood up and walked toward the forge, Toothless not far behind me. I wasn't going to start on actually building the perches simply because it would have been too loud. I was only going to draft up the design I had in my head. I wanted the dimensions so I could figure out approximately how much iron we needed.

I sat down in my study as Toothless stuck his head in and lay down, his head resting on his paws. He moaned softly, telling me to hurry up so we could go on our morning flight. I didn't even look at him. The idea I had was more important at this particular moment.

The idea I had for the perches was a three-footed support system holding up a square bar. Essentially, the support legs would have three anchor points into the ground. We needed two of them to hold the bar aloft. I knew it needed to be square because I didn't want the bar rolling around in the supports when the dragons were on it. I wanted the bar to be cradled into each support to keep it from moving around, so I drew a U-shaped top to the supports. I drew the cradle slightly wider than the bar itself just to make sure we had some wiggle room. Just in case the actual thing was a little off from the design.

I had the dimensions of the perches, and I knew the density of iron. I thought it was fascinating that the density of iron never changed…well, unless you count rusted iron, which is completely useless. But I had figured it out when I was playing around one day in the forge, finding how much space a chunk of iron took up by immersing it in water (and getting rid of the water very quickly afterward by heating the iron). If you weigh that same chunk of iron, you can divide the weight by the space occupied to get the density. I repeated that little procedure several times with different pieces of iron and always got the same result. So I figured if I could get the space occupied by the perches and multiply by the density, I could estimate how much iron we needed.

That number turned out to be staggeringly large. I was pretty sure we had this much iron, but to make sure, I put the design in the middle of Gobber's workspace with a note on it. "Perches for the dragons: do we have enough iron?" I wrote down the amount we needed at the bottom and circled it.

I walked over to Toothless and roused him for a morning flight.

* * *

 

Toothless and I walked into the great hall from the front doors. Immediately upon entering, I felt a little uneasy. Several of the Vikings digging into breakfast saw me enter and held eye contact for a second or two. Most of the time, people just looked up, recognized who was entering and then resumed their business. But today, I felt like I was being singled out.

 _This is not happening again_ , I thought. I had gone through the first decade and a half of life like this. Always singled out, always the source of gossip around town. And through all those years, I never got used to it.

I took a deep breath and plodded forward, Toothless behind me. I was about halfway to the back of the hall, where the food was when someone said, "Just keep that dragon away from me."

I glanced to my left and found a Viking I didn't recognize sitting there glaring defensively at me and Toothless. He didn't seem important enough at the moment, so I continued walking with Toothless in tow. Reached the back of the great hall and selected a smoked cod. Filled a basket about halfway with fish for Toothless. And sat down alone.

Toothless looked at me with excitement as I put the basket down and flipped the lid open without empathy. He stuck his head into the basket and gave an eager grunt. Pulled his head back out with a fish in his mouth. Swallowed it. This was routine for him during meals. He always started with an excited grunt, like he was thanking me and then finished his meal in silence.

I slowly ate the fish in front of me, wondering why people seemed so cold all of a sudden. It wasn't like this just two mornings ago. There were even some people who smiled when Toothless entered the great hall. Several of the smaller kids really liked him, maybe because he was tolerant of them. But today, there was no greeting, except for chilling stares.

Wait…never mind. _Great,_ I thought. Mildew.

I started worrying once I got about three-quarters of the way through my breakfast. The tension in the great hall was getting a little too severe for my liking. I felt like someone was gonna attack Toothless if I didn't leave soon. I quickly finished breakfast alone and took the dish and basket to the back for cleaning. Returned to Toothless to find him unscathed.

"Let's go, bud," I said quietly. I strode out of the great hall, Toothless trotting along behind me. We exited, finding black clouds curling from the forge's smokestack. Someone was busy. Probably Gobber. I walked down to the forge to find several ten-foot-long square beams and an excited Gobber.

"Hiccup, you're a genius!" he shouted over the clanging of the hammer meeting iron.

Toothless obediently walked into the forge and sat down near the entrance of my study. I glanced at him to make sure he wasn't doing anything crazy before returning my attention to Gobber. "At least _someone_ appreciates me and Toothless," I mused.

He stopped and looked at me blankly. "Huh? I thought people here really liked Toothless."

"Well, yeah, me too. But in the great hall just a few moments ago, I felt like we were gonna be attacked."

"Sounds like you're just having one of _those_ days. I get them all the time. You'll get used to it," he said with an air of unconcern. And went straight back to work.

I paused for a moment, letting him hammer away. It was typical Gobber to brush off most of what I said to him. I decided not to press the issue and turned the topic to what he was making. "What are the beams for?" I asked.

"Perches," he said. "I think your idea is really going to keep our roofs intact."

Oh yeah, the idea I had this morning. I had completely forgotten about it until just now. "Um, how did you get so many done while I was gone?" I asked him.

Gobber stopped hammering again and said with an absolutely straight face, "If I told you that, it wouldn't be a secret, would it?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. What's the secret?"

"Can't tell you. It's a secret."

"I'm begging on my hands and knees," I said flatly.

" _Knee_ ," he corrected.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I've still got two knees!"

Gobber walked to his left about three feet. Picked up what looked like another one of his odds-and-ends prosthetic hands. "This," he said, holding it where I could see. It was a plainly-shaped square made of iron about an inch thick. Looked to be nearly perfect size for the beams I had in mind. "I was wondering if I was ever gonna use this thing," he said.

"You've had it sitting here for all this time?"

"Yep! I can shape iron into a square in no time with this," he said excitedly. "The only difficult part about all this is making sure the pieces fit together."

"You don't have a hand for that?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well, I _do_ , but I don't want to show off. It would make things a little too easy," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. I simply nodded in complete understanding because this conversation was inching dangerously close to swimming in sarcasm.

"All right, then," I began with a sigh. "What do you want me to do?"

"Get the feet and cradles on the longest beams," he said.

I looked a little closer at his collection of iron beams and saw about half of them were close to twenty feet in length. Those had to be the supports. I remembered designing the legs about twice as long as the crossing beams.

"There's a pile of extra pieces on the other side of the beams," Gobber continued. "You can use those."

I smiled, knowing this was going to be easy, albeit time-consuming. While Gobber worked to make the rest of the beams we needed, I grabbed as much scrap iron as I could and filled several stone beakers. They went into the fire, where I could simply drip the iron onto the joints between the supporting beams and cradles/feet. I knew heating the square pieces would deform them, making this endeavor frustrating. Not to mention even more time-consuming, if not useless.

The cradles were probably easiest. All I had to do was line the smaller pieces of iron up with the beams and make sure they extended above the beams by about a foot. Then attach using molten iron.

The feet were going to sit at an angle, which meant cutting and filing to match the support beams. It was back-breaking work, so once Gobber had all of the square pieces we needed, he and I took turns at shaping the feet.

Soon, a collection of support beams began finding their way outside the forge, ready for placement. Five perches total.

I knew I wanted one beam near the great hall. Another one was gonna be near my house (the chief and his son should get at least _some_ privileges, right?). The other three were gonna be spaced throughout the plaza. Far enough apart so the dragons wouldn't argue over which was the better perch.

We started in the plaza, digging holes in the ground and securing each foot with large rocks on either side. In my plans I had made sure to keep the perches somewhat out of the way so that people wouldn't accidentally collide with them.

After spending the morning arduously shaping the beams, it was nice being able to use dragons to make life a little easier. And quicker. It was easy, knowing two dragons would suffice for each piece of metal. They could generally get two complete perches done before tiring. We only needed long pieces of rope, and they figured out what to do. Just hang on while riders guided them to the right spot.

Getting the perches set up took the better part of an hour. Getting dragons _on_ them, however, was a different story. Perhaps Toothless could show them.

I put the tools I had used back in the forge. Exited and found Toothless sitting on his haunches, looking at me expectantly. He was well-trained, not only because he knew not to be in the forge when nobody else was around, but also in the looks he gave me when he wanted something. Right now, he was asking for attention. With that expression, I was pretty sure I couldn't say no.

I strode up to Toothless and scratched him gently under his chin. He murmured in happiness, his eyes shut.

"I need your help, Toothless," I said to him after he came down off his little high. Obviously, he didn't understand what I was telling him, so I sidled toward his back. He got the message pretty quickly and got down on all fours, letting me climb onto his saddle. I clicked into the stirrup. And Toothless lifted off without any hesitation.

I directed him to land on the perch closest to Astrid, where he would be visible to everyone, including most of the dragons we had roaming around town.

Toothless landed on the crossing beam, but seemed to have some trouble keeping his balance. Maybe Gobber and I could come back and weld the crossing beams to the supports. I saw the crossing beam wobbling in its cradle. Toothless probably felt it too because he was grunting in concentration, trying to keep his footing. It didn't take long for him to put his front paws on the top of the cradle, giving him a three-point contact with the perch.

He immediately relaxed and looked over the town. I knew he was in his comfort zone because he was completely still, knowing he didn't have to fight for balance. Toothless had a view of pretty much the entire town. Even a little bit of the forest to the east. He rumbled contentedly, gazing around.

"Really?" someone shouted, taking some of the moment away from us. "After what happened two nights ago, you're just going to let him rule over Berk?" It was Mildew.

Toothless and I glanced down at roughly the same time to find Mildew with a few more people around him. There were maybe five or six Vikings glaring up at us with that loathing expression Mildew had perfected.

"You have no idea how much trouble you're causing, boy," one of the Vikings said to me. I didn't recognize him, so I had no idea what his thoughts on dragons were before Mildew brainwashed him.

"Do you _really_ want Thor's anger here?" another shouted.

"Maybe he does," Mildew said to no one in particular. "Maybe he doesn't believe Barnstadt was real."

"Oh, Barnstadt died a horrible death that night," one of Mildew's cohorts said with an obvious nod.

"And the same thing's going to happen to you and your Night Fury, boy!" Mildew shouted. His little group murmured in assent. "I still don't understand why you're letting the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself' live here. There is no place for that dragon in Berk."

"Where do you suggest I take him?" I asked daringly.

"Some other island that isn't called Berk!" Mildew shouted back.

I shook my head, not saying anything. It was pointless to argue logic with Mildew. Yes, I could have said Toothless can't fly without me. But Mildew would have spun that argument to his advantage.

"No? What's it going to take, boy? Do you need to see Freyr's Light to be convinced? Or perhaps Thor himself again? I'm sure he could make a visit like he did with Barnstadt!"

I continued staring at him. I seriously thought both the idea of Freyr's Light and Thor visiting Berk were myth. They sounded a little too made up, if you asked me. The masts of ships glowing with an eerie light? How does that even happen? And don't get me started on a "ball of lightning."

"I'm warning you, Hiccup. Don't be so confident that your dragon is safe from the thunder god. After tonight, I'm sure you'll be begging for him to be shipped off somewhere else."

"Since when did you become a prophet!?" I shouted down to him.

"I'm not," Mildew said. "But after seeing what happened in the last two days, I think Thor will have to take a step further to convince you."

I rolled my eyes at him with a frustrated sigh. This was getting too stupid to continue arguing with this louse. And it didn't help that his group had gained ranks in the last few minutes. I counted fourteen people now.

Without saying a word, I decided to end the argument because it was getting late. And it looked like another storm was on the horizon. But ending the argument would mean Toothless had to get off the perch. I knew if Toothless simply jumped down, the group of Vikings would have a field day injuring him…or worse. But running or flying away was weak, and Mildew would certainly take advantage of it. But the decision was made for me anyway. Toothless’ life was way too valuable. There was no way I was gonna just play around with something that serious. So I compromised. I had Toothless jump down and land about fifteen feet away from the villagers. And we were between them and my house.

As soon as Toothless righted himself, I turned him around. He growled because the group was approaching us at walking speed. To me, that meant they weren't going to kill him, but they were going to beat him senseless to teach him a lesson. Toothless’ growl turned into a threatening snarl as they approached, undaunted.

The group couldn't get any closer to me because my dad strode between them and us, facing Mildew's little group. I couldn't see his expression, but I had a good idea of what he was thinking. The tone of his voice told me everything I needed to hear.

"Do _not_ threaten my son or anything having to do with him," he said sternly.

Immediately, they stopped. "All right," Mildew said. " _Don't_ do anything about that Night Fury. Maybe you should wait until Thor starts targeting innocent people before you consider getting rid of that dragon."

"Enough!" my dad shouted. Everyone in his little group winced, including Mildew. And Toothless. "Go back to your homes because there is nothing more to see here. And if you want to continue fighting this battle, be prepared to start skipping meals."

Everyone except Mildew shrunk back slightly. They knew what that meant. Mildew, however, still had that same defiant expression on his face. Maybe because he was gaunt to begin with. He held eye contact with my dad for several seconds before sighing and slowly walking away. As his group dispersed, he shot a sideways glance at me and Toothless.

I walked Toothless indoors, followed by my dad. Gobber was already there with his prosthetic tankard. I knelt and hugged Toothless tightly around the neck, hoping I could protect him within the next few days. Not from lightning or thunder. But from Mildew and his little army.

"Hiccup, you don't have to worry. As long as Toothless is on Berk, I'll help you protect him."

"I will too, Hiccup," Gobber chimed in.

I sighed, relaxing my arms. Toothless moaned softly, pushing his snout gently into my chest. "Thanks," I whispered to the three of them.


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh, come on, Hiccup. You and Toothless will be fine," Gobber said. "Besides, I think the perches are probably your best idea yet." He took a swig from his prosthetic tankard and grunted in disgust, his eyes wide in surprise. Immediately, he removed the mug from his lips and spit whatever he was drinking back into its container. "Gods, that was bad. I think it's about time to check on moving the well again." Gobber shuddered. Whatever he nearly took a swallow of must have had a hysterically bad taste.

My dad looked into his own tankard and his eyebrows rose slightly. "Um, yes, I think that would be wise," he concurred.

I looked at the two of them from the floor, one of my arms still draped over the back of Toothless’ neck. I had no idea how we were gonna be "fine." Toothless rubbed his head gently against my chest with a low grunt, asking for more attention. Just like usual, I gave in and scratched the top of his head. Toothless rumbled, sending a soft vibration up my left arm. I smiled at him.

"Hiccup, just think of what we can accomplish now that the perches are in place!" Gobber said excitedly, apparently getting over his shock about the water. "We could build new stables or reinforce the roofs with iron! It's like you've opened an entirely new way for us to help the dragons."

"Give it time, Gobber," my dad told him with a short laugh. "Berk is still for people, you know."

Toothless perked. At first, I thought he was reacting to what my dad just said. But then reality took over, and I realized Toothless probably didn't comprehend that. He was reacting to something else.

"Yes, he just said that," Gobber told Toothless. Toothless simply looked at him, probably because he realized Gobber was directing his speech to him. "Hiccup, why is your dragon so concerned we're gonna kick him out of Berk?"

"He…what?" I stuttered. "He's not. Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" Gobber started to worry me. I thought he was in Mildew's growing camp. And Gobber was probably the second-most tolerant adult here when it came to dragons. The most tolerant was my dad. Mainly because of Thornado.

"Oh, don't tie yourself in a knot," he said, waving his hand at me. "I was wondering why he reacted to your father saying what he did."

"I, uh…I don't think he can understand that," I told him. "I think it was something else."

"Any ideas?" my dad asked. I looked at him blankly and shrugged.

Toothless turned his attention back toward me. His eyes were wide in fear, like he knew something bad was heading this way. Kinda like the thunderstorm we had two nights ago, Toothless’ eyes were twitching slightly, unable to focus on anything in particular.

I stroked him gently on his cheek, trying to get him to calm down. But when I touched him, I felt him quivering.

A light patter started, just like two nights ago. I glanced upward, remembering the cover again. Still there, held down by the pitch. No worries. And there were no dragon outlines in the roofs tonight. After Toothless’ little demonstration, several Nadders and Monstrous Nightmares we had around Berk figured out the perches were safe.

A low rumble sounded. And it wasn't Toothless. I sighed in frustration, knowing we were in trouble again tonight. Mildew would be working all the angles on this thunderstorm tomorrow, enlisting others to join his cause. My only hope was that the thunderstorm would be mostly rain and not lightning.

I edged closer to Toothless as my dad and Gobber sat at the table. Toothless curled slightly around me, asking for my protection again.

"Is he all right?" Gobber asked.

"We'll just have to see in a few hours," I said. "Depends on what this storm throws at us."

Another low rumble. And the patter of the rain hadn't gotten any louder. I shrugged on the inside, knowing if I even _thought_ about it, we'd be jinxed and the heavens would open up with rain and lightning. To keep my mind off of that idea, I stroked Toothless’ head, trying to give him my undivided attention.

A loud crack very quickly ended the possibility of the thunderstorm being mild. The walls of the house vibrated with a low hum from the thunder coursing through Berk. I just hoped there were no dragons or people outside.

Toothless tensed, ready to dash off at a moment's notice. Another thunderclap from close range made him jump with a shout. And what really scared me was Thornado. He was beginning to show worry, just like Toothless was.

As I glanced toward the covered opening in our roof, a flash illuminated the leather with a dull white glow, just as an explosion crashed into the house. An axe fell off the wall from the vibration, clattering to the ground. Toothless lost any semblance of his composure and streaked upstairs in a black blur. Despite all the commotion outside, I had a plan this time. I was gonna stay with Toothless through the entire storm. I slowly walked upstairs, trying not to show any fear or pain because my ears were ringing again. I found Toothless huddled on his rock, shivering in fright. Shuffled over to him and sat down on the edge of the rock, next to his left front paw. Gently stroked the top of his head.

"It's gonna be okay," I whispered to him. I seriously wanted an arsenal of these kind of phrases, because telling him it was gonna be okay was getting old. And it didn't work either. Toothless was still shivering in fright.

Another explosion from close range. Toothless moaned in fear, inching closer to my left hand. I kept it there. Wanted him to know I wasn't letting him out of my sight. Another explosion. Toothless wrapped his paws around my forearm. His mouth was getting a little too close for comfort to my arm. I knew if another thunderclap sounded, which it would soon, he'd probably bite my arm off.

I slowly removed my arm from his grasp and touched his front left paw. Toothless looked at my hand for a second or two. He was still shivering in fright, but he haltingly licked my hand. He was trying to calm down, although the proceedings outside were too much for him. I just hoped the thunderstorm would end soon.

Nope. Another thunderclap, still sounding like it was somewhere within the village. I thought the houses around Berk were going to collapse from the shockwaves. Since we were indoors, I couldn't see what was going on. Not that I wanted to anyway. After what happened two days ago, I figured indoors was a good, safe place for me and Toothless.

But being indoors meant the only thing I could do was huddle closer to Toothless, feeling powerless to help him. And all I could tell about this storm was that the thunder was much louder and more intense than two days ago. Logic told me the lightning must have been closer tonight as well.

Throughout the rage outside, I simply stayed next to Toothless. I didn't pet him or try to reassure him everything was okay. It was futile to try at this point. I only sat next to him, where he could see me, see that I wasn't going to leave him anytime soon.

* * *

 

I woke up, my legs completely numb from sitting next to Toothless. I took a deep breath and stretched, feeling pins and needles coursing from my toes to my hips. After a few minutes, I started walking downstairs. Toothless grunted urgently, trying to get me to stay with him.

I turned back toward him and said, "C'mon, buddy." I motioned toward the stairs with my head and left shoulder. Toothless simply looked at me, continuing to shake in fear.

I shrugged a little and proceeded downstairs. If Toothless followed, great. If not, he'd have to wait for just a little bit.

I knew today was going to be rough. With all the lighting strikes in the village, we must have lost several houses. And I wouldn't have been surprised if some of them toppled from the thunder. As I opened the door, Gobber asked, "How bad is it?" He was referring to the destruction Thor had wrought upon Berk.

"Um," I stammered. You know that shocked feeling when something completely unexpected happens? "I, uh…you might wanna take a look at this," I said.

Gobber stood up and hobbled toward the door. Looked out. "I…don't…see…anything," he said quietly.

"All the houses are standing," I pointed out. That was what we were so shocked about. You don't just have a thousand lightning bolts rip through a village without destroying _something_. There had to be a house somewhere that was razed.

I didn't want to venture out into Berk, fearful of what I might find there. The village we could see from my house actually looked somewhat peaceful. Maybe not back-to-sanity, but there wasn't any chaos running amok in the plaza.

I looked down at the grass, noting there was only a light sheen of moisture on the ground. It had barely rained, and there was no smoke curling from the village. Maybe Thor had been sarcastically merciful during this storm?

I was about to shut the door when Mildew came hobbling into view. Well, what caught my attention was Fungus bleating about something, which was a common occurrence.

"Where's your father?" he asked bluntly.

"Here," my dad said before I could do anything. He brushed his way past me and said, "What do you want, Mildew?"

"I want to call a town meeting today," he replied.

"And why is that?"

"Because Thor is getting angrier by the minute at us! Did you not see what he did last night?" Without giving anyone a chance to answer or explain about being indoors, he shouted, "Every single lightning bolt hit the perches! I lost count after a few minutes, but it's obvious Thor is saying we shouldn't be supporting these dragons like this. Especially _yours_." He pointed directly at me, trying to single me out.

"Mildew, I thought I already told you not to threaten my son," my dad told him.

"You did. And I'm not threatening anyone. I'm simply telling you what's going to happen if you don't do something about his dragon."

My dad glared at him a little more intensely and said, "Toothless isn't going anywhere. You have no say in what happens to him."

"Your loss," Mildew said cryptically. He continued hobbling toward the great hall.

"Um, Dad?" I said meekly. He turned around and looked at me. I had no reason to be intimidated, but when a Viking twice your size stands at his full height, it's hard not to feel small. "I think someone should keep an eye on what Mildew does in the great hall."

My dad looked at me with a confused expression. "Hiccup, what is he going to do?"

"I think he's, um…he's gonna try to get more people on his side about Toothless."

"And you think they'll believe him?"

"Uh, I think so."

Gobber stood up from the table and said, "Well, what if Thor _really_ isn't happy with us? What if, you know, Mildew is kind of, somehow…well, not necessarily wrong, but…" Gobber trailed off because he liked Mildew about as much as I did. Which was not at all.

"What if he's right?" I said in defeat.

"Well, maybe half-right, or something like that," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, let's play your game. Let's say Thor isn't happy with us for some reason. But I just wanna pretend it's not because of Toothless or any other dragon here. What should we do?"

Without thinking, Gobber immediately responded, "A sacrifice."

"What!?" my dad and I shouted at the same time.

"No sacrifices!" I continued. "I don't wanna kill anything."

Gobber thought for a moment. Before he could say anything, my dad suggested, "A statue? When was the last time we made an offering to Thor anyway?"

Gobber thought again. "Not since Hiccup was born. You know, I think it's about time for something he'll like. And a statue sounds perfect." He beamed, as if it was his own idea.

"Sounds great," I said. "I'll help build it after Toothless and I get breakfast. And a flight."

About two seconds later, Toothless came bounding out of the house, unmindful of Gobber and my dad standing there. I wanted to prioritize my time, not necessarily because of Toothless, but because of Mildew. I had a sinking feeling that I was gonna find him in the great hall, rallying more troops for his cause.

I got onto Toothless’ back and glanced toward the great hall. Nobody of interest was filing in, telling me Mildew was already inside. Oh, well. I promised Toothless a flight and I wasn't going to break it, not when he was a dragon.

I hooked in with my peg and we took off for a longer-than-normal morning flight. I wanted to give Mildew enough time to eat a meal and then arrive at the great hall. It was a way to figure out if he had an agenda on Toothless or not. My preliminary guess was that he already had one.

* * *

 

Toothless landed near the front of the great hall panting slightly because of the flight. He began padding toward the large double doors in the front of the hall out of routine. I quickly dismounted and nudged him to his right. "This way, bud," I told him. Entering through the front of the great hall might have been suicide for both of us. If Mildew really was pushing his agenda, any sight of Toothless wasn't going to bode well for me or my dragon.

Toothless got the message and went in the direction I wanted. We stopped at the back door. "Stay here, okay?" I said. I knew Toothless hadn't ever been through the back of the great hall, which was where we stocked our fish and eels. There was a chance he was trained enough to control himself around food, but there was also a chance he'd go on a feeding spree around that much fish. I hated that I had to tread lightly in my own village simply because of some old coot's idea. But I had to play his little game by his little rules, and if Toothless got a hold of our fish stores, it wouldn't take much more convincing from Mildew about his "true nature."

Toothless sat down on his haunches, looking at me expectantly. He was probably a little curious about why we were at this particular entrance rather than the front. The one he was used to.

I slowly opened the door to the back of the hall and heard Mildew's voice echoing around the interior. "Fan- _tas_ -tic," I mumbled under my breath. I slipped in as quietly as I could and grabbed a basket, filling it about three-quarters of the way with fish. I had enough presence of mind to avoid any eels. I closed the lid and put a cooked fish on top for me.

The entire time I was preparing our meals, Mildew was running his mouth about how much he didn't want Toothless here. "…And for those poor souls who were trapped last night in their homes, you can thank that Night Fury for your imprisonment. The Night Fury that the boy keeps here on Berk, the Night Fury that shouldn't be here, the Night Fury that has angered Thor himself!" Several villagers shouted in assent to Mildew before he continued. "And what did Hiccup do to help us? Nothing. If anything, he has only condemned us to our fates by building the perches in the plaza and in front of our great hall. He is allowing the dragons to exercise their rule over Berk, when it should be Vikings who are in charge of this place. Not the dragons. Thor showed us exactly what he was thinking about the Night Fury by striking each of the perches a thousand times over with lightning last night! But if you didn't see it, you would have had to be deaf to completely miss the thunderstorm. I'm sure we all noticed how much louder it sounded last night, am I correct?" More shouting in agreement. "That was Thor shouting to us! Think about it! If the boy and his father won't do anything about the Night Fury, then we need to take care of it ourselves! And if _we_ don't do anything, it's only going to be a matter of time before Freyr becomes involved, or worse, Thor kills someone with a ball of lightning." More shouting, some people looked like they were ready to kill something.

I snapped back to the present tense, remembering Toothless had a meal waiting in my arms. And he was getting hungrier by the minute. I slipped outside and found Toothless looking at me, ready for his meal. I took my fish off the basket and flipped the lid open. Toothless stuck his head into the basket and grunted eagerly, his way of thanking me for a meal. After that, we were silent in our breakfast. Several people passed by, heading toward the docks. Some of them looked in my direction. But they simply turned back to their business as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Thankfully, nobody asked me why I had decided to have a meal outside of the great hall with my dragon.

On this rare occasion, I finished a meal before Toothless. I waited for him to clean out his basket and took it back into the great hall. I sidled around our stack of fish and eels and placed the basket back where I found it. And listened. A Viking not named Mildew was talking, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. Too far away. But judging by the sound of his voice, he wasn't happy about something. I had heard maybe ten words when I recognized the words "Hiccup" and "Freyr's Light." I sighed in irritation, realizing most of Berk was going to turn against me and Toothless soon. It didn't matter if Toothless was perfectly behaved from now on. As long as Mildew was ranting about my dragon and had the weather to back him up, there wasn't a whole lot I could do.

What made my predicament worse was that I was playing directly into Mildew's scheme, and there was nothing I could do about it. Both he and I knew that if I showed myself with Toothless in public again, we'd be marked for death. My only choice was to stay away from everyone and keep quiet. Unfortunately, that also meant it was easier for anyone to spread rumors about me and Toothless. For once, I wished the weather would become agreeable again. I wasn't sure if we had enough time left to wait anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

I led Toothless toward the forge, where black smoke was curling from the stack once again. Gobber was hard at work, but it looked a lot busier in there than normal.

As we crossed into the plaza, I cautiously looked around, trying to gauge whether someone was about to attack me or Toothless. We received a few long stares from people around the center of town, but nobody was trying to kill us. Yet.

Inside, I wondered if Mildew had somehow coached these Vikings to give long, off-putting stares. Before I met Toothless, it was the psychological half of being bullied and jeered at that really got under my skin. I could always handle rumors because I knew within a few days they'd be too bizarre for reality. But when people tormented me because I was Hiccup, I felt completely insignificant. Especially when my dad got too frustrated with my antics and refused to defend me.

Today was no different. I felt like there was a clear box growing around me, and it was getting thicker by the minute. And even though my dad was (hopefully) gonna have my back through all this, I still felt uneasy. I was done trying to defend my reputation. I had grown so used to not having one that it barely mattered to me. But Toothless, on the other hand, was everything I stood for. I was truly afraid that it was only a matter of time before someone attacked him when he was somehow defenseless.

I led Toothless into the forge, where he dutifully sat on his haunches near my little office. Where he'd be out of the way. Looked around, finding Gobber hammering away at something that looked like a large, slightly curved thick sheet of iron. Not only that, Snotlout, the twins, Fishlegs and Astrid were all here with their dragons. And they were just as busy as Gobber, working on something that looked like they were going to assemble it later.

"G'mornin', Hiccup!" Gobber shouted over the din. He stopped what he was hammering on and leaned it against the wall. Hobbled over to me and Toothless. "With their help, it looks like we'll get this done quickly. Maybe even by noon."

"Get what done?" I asked.

"The statue of Thor, of course!" he shouted, as if I hadn't been awake for the last few days.

I glanced around again, noticing everyone was hard at work, even the twins. "How did you get them all here?" I asked.

"Everyone was excited about this. Well, Snotlout, Astrid and Fishlegs knew Thor would be happy about a statue of him."

"What about the twins?"

"Your dad convinced them. And then I promised them they could destroy some iron afterward. It wasn't too difficult, if you ask me."

I grinned slightly, which was the first time since about three days ago I didn't feel very threatened. I had wanted more than two minutes without thinking about my isolation, but my brain decided to shove it to the front of my thoughts once again. I took a deep breath and said quietly to Gobber, "Can I ask you a favor today?"

"Sure," he said without hesitation. He hobbled in my direction as I backed slightly toward Toothless.

"Can you or my dad introduce this statue to the village?"

"Why? Are you afraid it might fall on you? Or come to life?"

I almost said it. In true Hiccup fashion, I almost said, _If that statue came to life, it would play right into Mildew's scheme_. I stopped myself and blinked. With every bit of self-control I had, I told Gobber my fears about Mildew. "I don't wanna have any mention when you introduce this to Berk. Mildew's on a roll and nobody will stop him."

"Hiccup, for the last time, Mildew won't come anywhere near you or your dragon," Gobber said, trying to brush my concern off again.

"Gobber, really. He was giving some kind of pep talk in the great hall today. There must have been at least forty people listening to him. And half the village is glaring at me every time I show up outside."

He gave a short laugh. "Maybe because they're jealous. You're the only one with a Night Fury, you know."

"Can you not hear me?" I asked him. "Mildew has a bunch of people on his side because Toothless is the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself.'"

"I thought we changed that in the Book of Dragons."

"We did. But they don't care," I said, referring to Mildew and his army.

"OW! Hey, I was gonna do that!" Tuffnut shouted all of a sudden. Both Gobber and I turned just in time to see him conk his sister's helmet with his hammer. She hit him in the head. Tuffnut hit her in the head again…well, you know how it went from here.

"Do you need anyone with a hard head?" Gobber asked me sarcastically.

"No, thanks, but I'll keep your offer in mind," I said.

Gobber rolled his eyes and walked over to the twins, who were still pounding each other's head instead of the iron in front of them. They stopped as he said something, but I couldn't hear what he told them.

I sighed as I tried to find something productive to do. At the rate I was going, I was gonna fall ill from worry within a few days if Mildew's lies and deceit kept up. To my left, I saw the design for the statue, so I decided to check on the progress.

Astrid had both of the arms done and was now working on the back of the statue. She had Stormfly use her fire to weld the sheets together, which was kinda messy but it worked. The problem with a Deadly Nadder's fire is that it isn't concentrated into one spot. It's not like Toothless’ continuous flame. A Nadder's fire is more like a splashing flow. Naturally, there were some weld marks that weren't on the seam, but I figured it was gonna be fine anyway. They were small enough that you would have had to actively look for them.

"Whaddya think?" Astrid said, turning to me.

"Looks good," I said. I was being honest. She grinned and directed Stormfly to another spot on the metal.

I knew Gobber was working on the statue's head, face and helmet. If he wasn't doing a good job on it, then we were all doomed. I checked Snotlout's work. He was assigned the legs and had very specific instructions on how to assemble all the pieces together. Apparently, Gobber had shaped everything earlier. He must have been working most of the night if he had this many pieces ready.

"Um…" I started. I watched as Hookfang covered part of a leg with a stream of fire. He was actually doing well at keeping it contained, surprisingly. But the leg. "What are you working on?" I asked Snotlout after a pause.

"His legs, can't you see that?" he said in irritation.

"I, uh, think his knee bends the _other_ way. You know, like a real knee?"

Snotlout paused and looked at me. Looked at his knees. Raised his right foot and worked his knee back and forth a couple of times before setting his foot back down. "I don't see a difference," he said finally.

Luckily, the statue's foot was pointing upward, so I could do this without too much trouble. I pulled up a chair and raised my right leg forward, mimicking the position of the foot. "Like this," I said, bending my knee, which brought my foot downward.

"Hang on, lemme try this," he said. I stood up, and Snotlout sat down. He raised his right foot like I did and bent his knee. "So, does this mean I'll have to, like, break my knee so that it bends correctly?"

I was tempted to answer _yes_ , but I had a feeling Snotlout would take it literally. "No. Turn the statue's foot around," I said as patiently as I could.

Snotlout jumped up and turned the entire leg over. "Like this?" he asked, frowning in thought. After a short pause he turned to me and said, "Look, Hiccup. I've never done this in my life. Can you please not tell anyone that I'm slow at this?"

For once, it felt good to be on the receiving end of a Snotlout confession. Those things were few and far in between. "Okay, I promise," I said. "But you'll need Gobber's help with this." I noticed Hookfang had already welded the statue's foot to its leg, so it was up to Gobber to remove it. I didn't have the strength to file out the iron, but Gobber could do it pretty easily.

I turned around to find Gobber staring at us. "Something wrong?" he asked. I beckoned him over. "Why do you need me he…Why is the foot backwards?" Gobber asked, switching topics quickly.

"Can you help Snotlout get it on correctly?" I asked, somehow keeping a perfectly straight face throughout all of this mayhem.

Gobber glared at Snotlout, but he sat down and began filing into the weld, slowly prying the two pieces apart. I began walking toward Toothless as Gobber said, "Look here, Snotlout. The foot points in the same direction as the knee. Now make sure you do the _other_ leg correctly, or you get to fix it yourself."

I sighed as I approached Toothless. This was a losing situation. I knew we still had at least a couple thunderstorms to get through for the summer. They usually lasted for about two weeks, and we had only seen about three or four days of rain and lightning so far. So bad weather, that was a given. Somehow, Mildew was gonna find a way to misconstrue everything about this statue and how I related to it. If I didn't take any credit, he'd blame me and Toothless for not doing enough to appease Thor. If I took even a smidgen of credit for this, he'd blame me and Toothless for not doing a good enough job to appease Thor. And I just _knew_ he was gonna be harping on this as long as anyone would listen to him.

"Okay, good!" Gobber said, catching my attention. "Let's get everything together. We'll start with the legs and trunk."

Snotlout dragged the legs he fashioned (both of them were jointed correctly, by the way) out of the forge, where he met with Gobber. Snotlout directed Hookfang to weld the seams between the legs and hips together. It certainly seemed easier to use a dragon's fire rather than dripping molten iron to weld pieces of iron together.

"Astrid, bring the arms," Gobber instructed.

Gobber had shaped one of the arms to stick outward with its hand in a "stop" gesture, while the other held an axe across its chest. I was impressed by the amount of detail Gobber had put into the statue, because the axe looked sharp enough to slice a finger with it.

As Gobber held the arms in place, Hookfang went to work again welding the joints together at the shoulders.

I watched as Gobber marched back into the forge and grabbed the statue's head. He held it in place on the neck as Hookfang welded it. All told, it took maybe fifteen minutes to assemble the statue. Without dragons, it would have taken probably two hours at my guess.

I watched as the team placed ropes underneath the statue's arms and covered it with a large cloth. Hookfang and Stormfly went airborne, bringing the statue to its feet and carrying it toward the central plaza.

Mildew could say what he wanted, but I was certain dragons made our lives easier. This statue was a prime example of why.

My dad must have heard all the hubbub in the plaza. He was at Snotlout's house, conversing about something with Spitelout, Snotlout's dad.

My dad walked out and saw the statue covered in a large cloth. Mildew was already in the plaza. And I was watching from near the forge. Staying generally out of sight.

"Stoick, if this is what I think it is, it won't help us one bit with Thor," Mildew stated preemptively.

"And you know what Thor is thinking because…?" my dad shot back.

"I don't," Mildew replied. He and my dad left their conversation at that, although I saw an expression on Mildew's face that said he had more verbal attacks coming. He looked like he was waiting for the perfect moment.

"All right," my dad said to everyone who was present in the plaza. There were maybe fifty people here, so pretty much the entire village would have the message by tonight. "After thinking about the weather that has been happening for the last two days, we think it's time to make another offering to Thor." There was a murmur in the crowd, but it sounded neutral. Nobody seemed angry. Yet. "Some people will say Toothless is the reason for all this weather. But think about past years. Each year in the summer, we have about two weeks of thunderstorms. They happen, and there's nothing we can do about them. I am confident that this offering to Thor will help us get through these thunderstorms without any further problem."

With that, he and Gobber team-pulled the cloth off of the statue. Standing at its full height, it was about fifteen feet tall. I thought Gobber and the rest of our dragon-riding group did a great job at putting this together.

"That's it?" Mildew said.

"That's it," Gobber repeated.

"Thor will be outraged! This statue's face doesn't even _look_ like Thor!"

"Ah," my dad said, pouncing. "So you're immortal?"

Mildew stopped in his tracks and looked at my dad quizzically. "What?" he said.

"I'm simply asking how you know exactly what Thor looks like."

"What do you mean?"

"How did you see Thor's face and live?"

A pang of realization shot through Mildew's face. "I…uh…never have. But it would take a fool to not realize this statue isn't made in Thor's image."

Mildew was trying to figuratively saddle a yak. Both my dad and Gobber knew it too. They crossed their arms at about the same time and looked intently at Mildew, daring him to continue. In my little corner, I stood there impassively, soaking in Mildew’s attempted lie. He was about to lose some followers.

Mildew gathered his thoughts and said in a low voice to my dad, "Tell me, Stoick. How much of this did Hiccup contribute?"

My stomach dropped. Whatever followers Mildew had lost, he was gonna get them back tenfold. He must have been watching what was happening in the forge, seemingly knowing exactly what I did and where I was. And he probably knew my dad wasn't anywhere near here this entire time.

"I wasn't at the forge," my dad said calmly. "Ask Gobber."

"All right then," he said, turning to Gobber.

Before Mildew could say anything else, Gobber said, "Hiccup did what he needed to, and that's all you're gonna hear. All of the dragon riders helped today, not just Hiccup."

I sighed in relief.

"I think you should have left Hiccup out of this. I have a feeling that because of his involvement, we just might see Freyr's Light during the next storm." A few people in the crowd around them gave a short gasp.

 _Please don't be right_ , I thought as hard as I could in Mildew's direction.

* * *

 

"Stay here, bud," I said to Toothless. I didn't want to take him to the great hall again, not with another storm approaching. This time, I saw the lightning flashing from a distance, but I never saw any actual bolts. Everything happened within the clouds.

I trudged to the great hall by myself. Entered in the back again, trying not to arouse any suspicion. Kinda like when I was keeping Toothless a secret. I grumbled slightly, feeling the anxiety all over again. I didn't want to repeat those days because it was too stressful. And here I was, worrying myself sick over Toothless’ welfare all over again.

I grabbed a basket and started filling it with fish for Toothless. Thankfully, supper had already come and gone for me. I wasn't hungry anymore.

I closed the lid just as a Viking I didn't recognize grabbed my hand. "You've taken enough fish already. We're running low on food, so leave that basket here."

I turned and looked behind myself, noticing about a five-foot high pile of fish and eels. I didn't want to deal with this at the moment. Even when all this pressure was around Berk, Toothless still needed to eat. "Okay, how 'bout this?" I started. "I'll be right back, and you can talk to my dad about this."

He paused for a second and nodded. Let my hand go. "Make it quick," he said.

I nodded and took the basket with me. As I left the great hall, I rolled my eyes for two reasons. First, I couldn't believe how easily I had duped him. Second, and more importantly, a light rain was beginning to fall again.

Several diffuse flashes of white were painting the sky, but there were no lightning bolts yet. Kinda like what I saw earlier today. I looked at the statue of Thor in the plaza, knowing I'd have to walk past it to get back home. And dropped the basket of fish in disbelief. I froze on the spot, completely transfixed.

The horns of the statue's helmet were what caught my attention. The tips of them, in particular, stopped me dead in my tracks. Both tips had what looked like a purple-white glow to them, like they had somehow caught onto a diffuse ball of light. I blinked, making sure I wasn't seeing a hallucination.

I gulped when I realized what I was staring at.

Freyr's Light.

 _Are you serious?_ I thought. I quickly scooped up the basket and hurried my way home, just as the tips of the statue's helmet began shooting out an occasional miniature lightning bolt. Each time it happened, there was a soft crackling sound in the air, but the lightning coming from the statue never did anything except for reach out a couple of feet then disappear.

I slammed the door open, startling Toothless. He gave a short roar of surprise as my dad jumped slightly in his chair.

"Hiccup! What was that for?" he shouted.

"Oh, man, I am _so_ dead!" I stated. He looked at me with a puzzled expression. "It...it's the statue," I continued.

He glanced out the door, where the upper half of the statue was clearly visible from about two hundred feet away. And there was no mistaking what was happening around the horns, not even from this house.

In my preoccupation with Freyr's Light, I had forgotten to open the basket. Luckily, Toothless was able to tip it over. He was maybe halfway through his fish when I saw him.

"Oh, gods, this is bad," I said to no one in particular.

My dad shut the door and looked at me. "Hiccup, pull yourself together. What makes you think you're in trouble?"

"You didn't see Freyr's Light on the statue?"

"Yes, I did, but how does this have to do with you?"

"Almost everyone in Berk is gonna believe Mildew now! How in the world did he predict what was gonna happen tonight!? Now he'll stop at nothing to get rid of Toothless!"

My dad was about to say something when a loud thunderclap echoed throughout the village. Toothless tensed, trying to anticipate the next strike. As I looked out through the doorway, I saw a single roof smoldering. Couldn't tell whose it was. I only knew that I had to get Toothless to safety. Somehow, I had to get him away from the village after the storm ended.

I turned toward Toothless as another thunderclap sounded. He bolted upstairs to his rock again. I followed, knowing as long as this weather kept coming, Mildew would become more confident. And more validated.


	7. Chapter 7

I had a hard time believing this was only a thunderstorm. I almost felt the electricity crackling through the air. I huddled with Toothless, who was only getting more frightened by the second. And even after several thunderstorms this week, I still had no idea how to calm him down.

Through the doorway, Freyr's Light seemed like it was getting more intense. From my house, I saw the streamers of lightning arcing out from the statue's horns. They still never connected with anything, but they were constantly feeling around, searching for something to strike.

The lightning and thunder were so frequent I couldn't tell one bolt or thunderclap from another. It was a constant low rumble punctuated by the occasional cloud-to-ground strike and a sharp explosion. Several times, the lightning hit the statue's horns. And as for that roof that was smoldering earlier, the smoke was gone. It was raining just hard enough to put out fires, but not enough to limit visibility.

I looked at Toothless, who was shuddering just behind me. Like I was gonna protect him from what was out there. After what we had been through this week, I wasn't sure if we were gonna survive another night on Berk. It didn't matter about the weather at all. Mildew and his cohorts had seen enough to justify killing Toothless. They didn't want a repeat of what happened to Barnstadt all those years ago.

Because of my fear about Toothless, sleep wasn't gonna happen tonight. I was gonna wait for the storm to pass and then leave Berk with Toothless and a small amount of supplies that would keep me alive for about two or three days. Then Toothless and I could survive on our own. And who knew? Maybe I'd get a hold of Trader Johann and become a nomad like him. Then again, maybe not.

Through the open doorway, I was keeping an eye on part of Berk. Making sure nobody came after me and Toothless. My dad was helping shepherd most of the Vikings into the great hall, so it was just me and my dragon for a while tonight. Gobber was helping my dad, Astrid was with Stormfly and Fishlegs was in the great hall, as far as I could tell. At the current moment, I didn't trust anyone else enough to help keep me company.

"What do you think Freyr's Light means, bud?" I asked Toothless out of the blue. It wasn't like he was gonna answer anytime soon, but it helped keep my mind away from Mildew.

Toothless grunted and crept closer to me, wrapping slightly around my back. I felt him shivering as his wing brushed against my arm, followed by his side against my back.

"I thought so too," I said. And I had no idea what I was agreeing to. Couldn't speak Night Fury. But I understood Toothless was scared again. And I was gonna stay with him no matter what. I reached out and gently stroked Toothless on the top of his head. He pushed into my hand, as if my attention was gonna keep him safe from the storm out there.

I sighed, wondering how long it was gonna take this storm to leave.

Through the rain and constant flashes of lightning, I watched as a lone Viking ran across the plaza toward the great hall. Like he or she was late for something. I shrugged, not thinking anything of it. Right now, I was more worried about the example I was setting for Toothless. Not only was this storm unnerving to me, I was also scared about when Mildew and his group would attack Toothless. Not if.

After what seemed like an hour, the lightning was still flashing occasionally, but there was little-to-no sound. It was too far away. All I heard now was the constant patter of the raindrops falling on Berk.

I stood and shuffled toward the doorway, trying to gauge whether the storm was finished or not. The sky was still painted with flashes of dull white. Occasionally there was a low, quiet rumble. But Freyr's Light was still dotting the horns of the statue.

I put my hands on my hips and asked the air in front of me, " _Really?_ That's it?" Toothless grunted at my sudden change of expression. Freyr's Light had simply appeared and…well, that was it. I craned my neck to look around outside. We had a few pine trees dotting the island. And as fate would have it, there were small dots of light on the tips of their leaves as well. So Freyr's Light simply appeared, did its business and left.

My mind automatically started whirring, trying to connect Freyr's Light to what it appeared on. The horns of the statue. Pine leaves. And, from what I had heard, ship masts. Why only those three things? Just to make sure, I glanced back toward Toothless. No points of light on him.

Masts, horns and pine leaves. Masts, horns and pine leaves…

Pointed objects.

That was it. Anything with a sharp point could host Freyr's Light.

A sudden lightning bolt snapped me out of my thoughtscape. It struck the perch near the great hall, sending a massive thunderclap throughout the village. I reflexively covered my ears and groaned slightly. Toothless screeched and backed away, but didn't run upstairs. But what surprised me was what it did besides hit the perch. The bolt jumped from the perch to the doors leading to the great hall. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

I had no idea what the lightning bolt did after hitting the doors. Couldn't tell if it tore a hole in the wood or not. I let my eyes clear for a few seconds after that surprise. Blinked a few times.

"Oh…gods," I mumbled. "Oh, no."

Resting on top of the perch was a new ball of light, just like Freyr's Light, except for one thing.

It was moving. Not only that, it was drifting through the air, unmindful of the wind and rain.

I watched in horror as the ball of light headed straight for the doors of the great hall and disappeared without a trace. Seconds later, the doors burst open with a flood of panicking Vikings running away from where the ball of light had entered.

"EVERYBODY GET TO YOUR HOMES!" my dad shouted. People ran through the rain to get to their houses. Maybe they'd be safer there, even though they were generally closer to the perches.

A low _whuff_ sound to my left caught my attention. I knew it wasn't Toothless because he was behind me. I turned to look and saw a ball of light inside the house.

Toothless screeched again, trying to escape. Panic was gripping his mind, and he crashed headlong into the wall behind himself, collapsing with a long, painful groan.

I stood in shock, unable to form any words or sounds as the ball of light floated lazily in the air between me and Toothless, who was probably unconscious.

The ball, which was maybe the size of my fist, hovered silently in the same general spot for a few seconds before disappearing with a loud _crack_. The sound ripped through my chest and left my ears ringing in pain. I was breathing in short, shallow gasps, my eyes darting aimlessly around the house, unable to focus on anything in particular.

From outside the house, I heard someone's voice. "Hurry! Thor's going to destroy Berk if we don't kill the Night Fury now!"

Hearing him brought my mind back to the present tense. I glanced around the house, finding nothing out of place, except for Toothless. He was still lying in the same position as when he collided with the wall. I sprinted toward him, hoping he'd wake up within the near future. Before the horde of Vikings arrived.

"Do you think the dragon's in here?" another voice asked, just on the other side of the front door.

"Toothless, c'mon bud," I pleaded, kneeling by him. I stroked his cheek gently, trying to let him know I was still here with him. "Wake up. Please, wake up." Nothing. This was bad, and it was only getting worse. Toothless had no way to defend himself, and an angry mob of Vikings was just outside.

Behind me, I heard the door creak open. My stomach dropped to my feet when I heard someone tell his cohorts, "Get the boy out of the way."

I stood, ready to face Toothless’ and my fate. I decided that if they were gonna kill Toothless, they'd have to kill me too.

"Move, Hiccup," a Viking told me. I didn't recognize him. Didn't matter if I did or not. I stayed firm.

"No," I said quietly, making direct eye contact with him.

"I said _move!_ " He lunged in my direction, shoving me to the ground. He grabbed Toothless by the saddle and yanked upward. Toothless didn't budge. "Let's get this dragon to the plaza and kill it so that Thor can see." He pulled upward again. Same result.

Somehow, through a miracle, nobody else seemed bent on dragging Toothless out to the middle of town. Maybe they didn't count on the fact that a Night Fury was too heavy for one person to handle? I looked up at the Viking tug at the saddle with a confused look on my face. I had no idea what to think all of a sudden. This entire week, Mildew had been talking people up about ostracizing me and killing Toothless. And now, it seemed like there wasn't a plan at all.

"Can I get some help!?" the Viking pulling at Toothless shouted.

I heard another pair of feet approach me from behind. Mildew grabbed me by the arm and pulled me upright. "Since the dragon won't go with us, we'll have to do this here. You won't want to be here for this," he said eerily. As irritating as Mildew was, I had another reason to dislike him. His breath was as fetid as his appearance. Toothless was still lying on the floor, not moving. But his eyes were open. He blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what was around him.

"Oh, gods," I mumbled. "No…No. NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

In a split second, I saw Toothless’ eyes focus. He leaped into the air and tackled the Viking working at his saddle. Toothless must have realized I was in danger, because I knew he would do anything to protect me. He snarled as he slammed the Viking's head into the floor, knocking him unconscious. Looked in my direction. Roared in anger. And lunged forward.

Mildew stopped dragging me out of my house, yelped slightly and tried to use me as a shield, wrapping his right arm underneath my own. So much for honor, respect and nobility. Toothless stopped short and roared at him again. Each time he tried to get an angle of attack, Mildew pulled me between them.

_ Not my dragon, _ I thought. _Not Toothless_. I had that fluttering feeling in my stomach because a crazy idea just hit me. I knew if it didn't work, we were pretty much dead. But after seeing Toothless do so much to protect me again and again, I figured it was about time to return the favor. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, waiting.

I felt Mildew pause, trying to pay attention to Toothless. I brought my peg straight up with a grunt, like I was going to kick my own back, except Mildew got in the way. I felt the dull thud as my peg connected with his groin. Mildew screamed in pain and agony, bent in two and fell over, releasing his grip on my arm.

Two things happened at once as Mildew collapsed and curled up on the floor. I ran over to Toothless as several of the Vikings just outside my door shouted for revenge and lunged toward us.

"GO, TOOTHLESS! JUST GO!" I ran over to the back entrance and opened the door for him. It was still raining, but we didn't have a choice. Toothless sprinted out, and I followed. Got on his back. And we took off, heading away from Berk. I knew Toothless was worn out, but we had to get off this island now. Maybe forever. Probably forever, considering what I did for my dragon. My dragon, who was the bane of some peoples' existence for this week.

Rain and tears were burning my eyes as I thought about what had happened recently. All because of someone's stupid idea. And it resulted in two injured Vikings, plus anyone else affected by the storms.

"Just keep going, buddy," I instructed tersely. The first island not named Berk was my destination.

There was an occasional diffuse light burst in the clouds, telling me the thunderstorm wasn't quite finished. I had noticed the lightning tended to strike the tallest object nearby, but I had no idea why it favored the statue and perches when only fifty feet away there were trees that were closer to the sky. I didn't have time to think about that now. My only plan was to fly somewhat low. What made this flight really scary for me was that Toothless and I were the only object around. Sure, there was an occasional rock spire jutting out of the ocean, but that was it. And if we were the only thing around, that meant we were the _tallest_ thing around. I hunkered down in the saddle, as if I was now protected from any lightning bolt.

"C'mon, buddy. You can do this," I whispered. Toothless was beginning to tire. He was drawing long, painful gasps as he flew forward. Thankfully, I saw an island in the distance, which quickly became our destination.

"You can make it," I repeated to him. "C'mon, Toothless."

The island was beginning to grow steadily larger. As we got closer, I noticed it had a jagged spire of a mountain in the middle of it. Dragon Island. I shrugged on the inside. There were worse places to be for a night.

Toothless and I were maybe fifty feet away from the beach when time seemed to stop. A foreboding feeling shot through my body just as the texture in the rocky beach revealed itself. A blindingly bright white flash illuminated the area. Toothless seized violently, nearly throwing me off his back just as my ears went deaf. I knew something incredibly painful had just happened to me and Toothless, but as the beach slowly became larger, my vision and mind faded into blurriness.

Toothless crash-landed on the rocky beach, throwing me from his saddle. Time was still moving at a snail's pace as I tumbled slowly across the beach. I heard nothing and felt even less as I skidded to a halt.

I ended with my face down in the rocks, struggling to breathe. I couldn't move anything on my body. My peg even seemed like it was hurting, although I couldn't feel anything at all. I groaned slightly, not hearing a sound. Tried to move. Every joint felt like it was made out of jelly. Nothing would bend correctly.

As I slowly got to a crawling position, I saw a blurry figure shrouded by rain along with a few diffuse points of light.

I crawled forward, wincing with every movement along the way, even though my hands and knees felt nothing. As the shape got larger, I saw a wing and a tail. A saddle came into view not long after that. It was Toothless, lying motionless on the beach. I reached out to touch him and collapsed. My sense of distance was completely gone after whatever it was threw us onto the beach.

I struggled back up and continued crawling until my head bumped into his wing. I heard an echoing _whoosh_ as I pulled my head back. It felt like the wing had set my hair on fire. The rain even stung fiercely where it fell on my skin or clothes.

I looked to my right and saw Toothless’ tail. The red prosthetic fin was completely gone, like someone had cut it away. I forced my vision to focus and saw something even more horrifying.

The metal rod that held the fin in place was fused to his skin. Like something had melted the two and pushed them together. Freyr's Light was still there at the tip of the rod, kinda like a beacon. But it never did anything except light up part of Toothless’ tail, just so I could have a better view of the carnage.

I tried to say something, but I had no control over my mouth. I only groaned as something unintelligible escaped my lips. Moving like I was underwater, I slowly got to Toothless’ head. His eyes were tightly shut, and his mouth was frozen in a painful grimace.

I sat down next to my dragon, overwhelmed by the last few moments. After a few seconds, I realized a lightning bolt had struck either me or Toothless. We were modern-day Barnstadts. Intense thunderstorms, followed by Freyr's Light, then balls of lightning. And to top it all off, Toothless and I were the ones who paid the price for everything.

I stared out into the open ocean. The rain continued to fall. An occasional flash illuminated the clouds above us. And every now and then, there was a low rumble of thunder. Toothless and I were marooned on an uninhabited island, injured and frazzled with no means of survival or escape. And yet, all I could think of was that Mildew got exactly what he wanted.


	8. Chapter 8

Rain was still falling. An occasional flash illuminated the area, followed by a low rumble. And Toothless was still frozen in time. Still in that same position as when he crash-landed on this island. He was lying on his left side, eyes squeezed shut with his mouth drawn into a grimace, like someone was pulling on it with an invisible hook.

I never got up from my sitting position because there wasn't any point. I was pretty sure Dragon Island was uninhabited. From the areas I had explored during various trips here, it was always the same landscape. An unforgivingly jagged experience, completely bereft of any greenery or animals, save for the occasional wandering dragon or bird. But even then, the animals would be gone not long after that.

I looked back at Toothless through the falling rain. From the water that was running down my face, I couldn't tell what was rain and what was tears. It all felt the same to me. And it didn't look like the rain was gonna stop any time soon.

I saw Toothless with his grimace. The stirrup connecting his saddle to his tail fin was blown completely open. Small pieces of it were probably missing. Most of the connections that strung from the fin to the stirrup were nowhere to be seen. And the tail fin was completely gone, like it had been ripped cleanly off the frame. I kept my eyes on the frame, wondering how anyone was gonna get it out of Toothless’ skin without causing immeasurable pain to him. If I could trade places with him, I would have done it without a second thought. He didn't deserve to go through something like this. He had saved my life on several occasions, and I never forgot about it. Toothless was my protector, and this was how he was rewarded?

Above everything else though, nothing masked the fact that we were completely stranded here. Nobody knew where we were. Most of the people in Berk probably didn't even know we had left.

 _What a way to go_ , I thought. My dragon and I were stuck with no food, and the only drinkable water was falling from the sky. That would end soon, leaving us parched.

I thought about what my dad, Gobber, Astrid and Fishlegs were going through right now. And maybe even Snotlout and the twins. They had their own problems with Mildew to worry about. But after he gave up for the night, then what next?

 _Where's Hiccup?_ That would be the next question. _Where's Toothless?_ Soon to translate into the following question: _Are they all right?_

The gravity of the situation was what really scared me. I realized very quickly that our only hope of getting off this island was for someone to come to us.

I pulled my knees closer to my chest and looked down at the rocky beach I was sitting on. Pulled in a deep breath with a lot of quavering. The lightning was still creating dull flashes of white, followed by a low rumble some seconds later. The rain was still falling, creating a small pool around Toothless and me.

 _When will I hit rock-bottom?_ I wondered sarcastically. When would this situation become so unbearable I couldn't take it anymore? If I didn't do something soon, Toothless was gonna drown. That is, if he was still alive.

My joints still wouldn't obey me, but I didn't have a choice. Slowly, I got to a crawling position and began pushing several rocks toward Toothless’ head. I knew I couldn't move him, even on my best days, so my only hope was to get his head elevated and wait the rain out. I removed several rocks with jagged edges and eased my right forearm underneath my dragon's head. Pushed the small pile of rocks underneath his head and set it back down. It looked a little better, with a small island of rocks supporting Toothless’ head. It bought me at least another hour or so.

"I'm sorry, bud," I whispered. I had nothing else to tell him. I sat back down next to his head, unmindful of the small pool of water that had been collecting around us. Reached out with my left hand and stroked his cheek gently. He was still warm to the touch, telling me he wasn't dead. I wished there was something I could do for him to make his pain disappear. But just like the thunderstorms we suffered through, I had to watch every second of his torture.

If it was any consolation, when I touched Toothless’ face, his grimace lessened slightly. It wasn't very much, but I could see it. For once, I wished I could channel the magic Toothless had. No matter what happened, I always seemed to heal more quickly when he was watching over me. I sighed, turning my attention out toward the ocean. The rain was lessening slightly, but it still showed no signs of stopping. And a light fog was beginning to settle over the island. I knew Dragon Island was no stranger to fog, just like the forest on Berk. It wouldn't take long for the fog to become a seemingly-impenetrable wall.

"We'll get off this island soon, bud. I promise," I whispered to Toothless. Deep down inside, I knew it was an empty promise. Stroked his cheek again. His grimace receded a little more. At this point, I only hoped that my promise would hold. Hoped that the gods would help us somehow. While we were still alive.

* * *

 

The rain slowly tapered off, taking the fog with it. The night sky was still pitch black without a star in sight. Clouds which would have been ominously dark during the day were hanging threateningly over us. Toothless was still lying in that same position, although his grimace was mostly gone now. The lightning bolt we took must have really paralyzed him. I felt significantly relieved when I heard him breathing. His breaths were very shallow, but he was breathing. Every time he exhaled, a few bubbles came out of his mouth from the water pooled around him. I knew if Thor decided to send another rainstorm our way, I'd have to figure out how to get Toothless to higher ground.

My pants, boot and shirt were completely soaked through. And the night air was just chilly enough to make it feel even worse than it already was. I sidled closer to Toothless, brushing my left arm against the back of his neck. Hoped he'd regain his consciousness soon. Because I felt scared, alone and hopeless. Not only because we were stranded. But also because Toothless was unconscious. I had only the company of myself at the moment. The feeling of loneliness in the air was so thick I could almost taste it.

In the distance, a small light show was happening. It was to the southeast, which probably meant there was another storm tormenting Berk. In the back of my mind, I hoped it was Thor getting his revenge on Mildew for what he did to Toothless over the past few days. But from Mildew's point of view, he probably thought Toothless was still on Berk somewhere. He'd call out the search party, and they'd go on an island-wide hunt for a Night Fury. After that failed, I knew it wasn't gonna be too long before he started trying to kill other dragons. Maybe as a threat to get Toothless out of hiding. Or maybe out of complete and utter frustration.

I watched impassively as the light show dimly illuminated the pool Toothless and I were sitting in. It was completely silent, except for the crashing waves around Dragon Island, telling me the storm was too far away to be of immediate threat. That was the one saving grace I had because I couldn't come up with a backup plan to get Toothless out of this hollow.

I sighed, shivering as the wind picked up slightly. Inched closer to Toothless, hoping his warmth could help me a little.

"Wake up soon, bud," I whispered to Toothless. "I'm scared."

I had no problem admitting I was frightened to Toothless. He was the one I could always trust to keep my deepest, darkest secrets. I knew he'd listen to me when I was frightened or upset, and he never judged me for it. Never told me I was weak and looked for a better, more suitable, rider. When Toothless was around, I always felt more comfortable because I knew he was gonna protect me. But as long as he wasn't awake, I was on my own. And that scared me more than anything right now.


	9. Chapter 9

Sunrise.

The first reds and oranges were painting the sky with their soft colors. It would have made for a beautiful vista, except for where this vista was.

Dragon Island.

The loneliness surrounding me was so profound that the colors in the sky looked more muted than they really were. I stayed awake throughout the night, unable to sleep. And I wasn't even tired right now, although I should have been. If anything, I was feeling a little nauseated. Couldn't tell if it was from all the worrying or the lightning bolt that struck Toothless and me last night.

Toothless hadn't moved or even shown signs of waking up soon. Occasionally, I heard him exhale, and that was it.

I sighed, trying to get some kind of movement in my legs. My hips felt like they were made out of fused iron. I could have sworn I heard them creaking when I straightened my legs out. My feet dragged slightly through the rocks on the beach. The water that was surrounding me and Toothless like a halo had disappeared. I guessed this beach drained quickly because it was rocky.

I stood gingerly, trying to find my balance. My head was spinning, making the nausea worse. Sat back down and waited for a little bit. Checked to my right to make sure there was nothing that would get mad at me if I vomited on it. I took several deep, slow breaths in an attempt to clear my head. After a short time, the nausea returned to somewhat tolerable.

I tried standing again. This time, I moved a lot slower, making sure I wasn't feeling that sickening wave again. Got to my feet after probably a couple of minutes and looked at Toothless in the strengthening light. Still in the same position, still barely breathing. Tail and support rod still fused together.

 _I should just remove that rod while he's asleep,_ I thought. _Toothless might not feel any pain if I do that._ I mulled that idea over in my head several times before deciding against it. I didn't have anything to stop any blood flow if the rod was embedded that deep into his skin. And if Toothless wasn't awake, he'd have no way to take care of himself. Pulling the rod out of his tail would have resulted in his death from blood loss. Logic wasn't the only voice telling me that. After all this sour luck, I wouldn't have been surprised if he _did_ bleed.

I looked at Toothless’ face. His grimace was gone, and his eyes weren't tightly shut anymore. Somebody who was oblivious to what had happened to us would have thought Toothless was just sleeping.

"I'm gonna see what I can find. I'll be back soon," I whispered to him. Bent down slowly and stroked the top of his head. I really wished he'd wake up soon. It was selfish, but I'd have someone to share in this loneliness.

I stood and slowly made my way toward the mountain in the center of this island. Walking was challenging enough on its own, considering I had no traction with my peg on the rocky beach. And I was still a little dizzy and nauseated, which made it even more difficult.

The terrain flattened enough for me to start walking around the mountain in hopes of finding something. Anything. I turned left and began easing away from Toothless.

After maybe ten minutes of walking and slipping, I saw a few ominous figures in front of me. I gulped, my heart rate quickening, but pressed on. Maybe there was shelter. Or food. Or water.

As the shapes began to focus, my heart sank. I remembered this place all too well. It was where Toothless and I challenged the Red Death. Where we convinced Vikings to support rather than fight dragons. Where I lost my left leg. I stopped, my eyes beginning to water. I didn't want to have to go through all those memories again. They were bad enough once. And they felt awfully similar to what I was going through now. All I could think of was how Toothless was ripped from me that day in the arena. I remembered how it felt and sounded when I watched that Viking ram him in the back of his jaw. And I remembered feeling how the world was gonna end that day. Several tears escaped my eyes and ran down my face, but I continued forward.

We had six boats here that fateful day. Two of them were somewhat intact. The other four were now leaky messes of wood, thanks to the surf and rocks. There were several rusted weapons just barely out of the water's reach, telling me where the tide peaked each day. The beach was still dotted with six-foot-long sharpened stakes pointing toward the mountain. Toward the crater that the Red Death crashed out of when it attacked.

This place was once an unforgiving home to an entire horde of dragons. Now only ghosts lived here.

I peeked into the first boat that looked intact. It was only a shell of wood. Somehow, the inside of the boat had been removed, like it had been carved out by a large knife. A few rusted swords and maces were sitting underneath about a foot of salt water, giving it a brownish tint.

Heading toward the second boat, I knew supplies probably weren't going to be around. Maybe there was shelter nearby in case we needed it. If nothing else, I could somehow get Toothless over here and we could hide in the crater the Red Death created. Where Toothless was lying, there was nothing to cover us. No entrances into the mountain or natural roofs.

The second boat was listing at a decent angle. Looking inside revealed it to be almost untouched. Probably because it either ran aground or the tide pushed it here over several months. But the hull was almost completely intact with only a few planks missing.

I climbed onto the lower side of the boat and looked into the hold. Several swords, all of them showing at least some rusting. But this area could do for shelter. If I got the weapons out of the way, it just might work.

Even with this shelter though, we weren't any better off just because of protection from rain. Toothless and I were still bereft of food and water. I glanced toward the ocean. Southeast, if I knew my directions. And as my luck would have it, there was another thunderstorm. Flashes of lightning were dotting the sky in the distance, but no thunder reached my ears. I had no idea which direction the storm was headed, but I wasn't going to take any chances with this. Another downpour, and Toothless stood a good chance of drowning in his little hollow.

I sighed, listening to the ghosts and their silent conversations in this graveyard. I decided we'd take shelter in the mountain for the night because it was easier to reach than the hold of a listing boat. I turned around and started back toward Toothless.

 _Please, just let someone find me and Toothless,_ I thought. _I want to go home_. I wanted to be sitting at my table in front of a welcoming hearth. And Toothless would be curled up about five feet away from me with his eyes closed but not really sleeping. Just keeping me company, because that was what he did best.

A wing about a hundred feet away caught my attention. It was black, telling me Toothless was still there. I walked as fast as I could on this terrain and noticed he was lying in a different position than when I left him. Either someone got here and moved him or he moved himself.

I neared Toothless, ready to greet him with the usual _Hey there, bud_ , but stopped short of him. Instead of a greeting, a choke forced itself out of my throat.

Toothless was in front of me; there was no doubt about that. And nobody was around, so he must have dragged himself here. He was lying on his right side this time, his left side and wing facing skyward. And the skin on his left side wasn't black anymore. It was a mottled dark grey.

Toothless had been lying in that pool for so long that his hide had become waterlogged. Even his face had that same look. I almost couldn't tell where his eye was because his skin was so swollen with water. He was barely breathing, but I had no idea if that was good or bad.

I collapsed on my hands and knees about two feet away from him. The area around him smelled awful. It was that rotting scent, like a week after an animal dies and decay starts its work. Toothless’ left side was peppered with small open wounds that looked to be oozing small amounts of blood.

"Toothless, no…" I choked out, as if those words were gonna keep him alive. I sat back on my knees and stroked the top of his head gently. His skin was much cooler than normal when I touched it. "Please, Toothless, wake up," I whispered to him. "Wake up."

If there ever was a time when I wished for a miracle, this was it. Toothless didn't deserve to go through this pain and suffering. Somehow, I just wanted to make his pain go away. Even if it meant trading places with him.

I collapsed with a long groan on my back from exhaustion and worry. This was too much for me to handle. I wasn't sure if I had anything to be grateful for, but I knew Toothless was alive, if only barely. My left hand found the top of his head, and I let my fingers trace over his skin. If nothing else, I wanted Toothless to know I wasn't going anywhere. I might not have been able to protect him, but I wasn't going to leave his side.

* * *

 

Daytime.

It was cloudy, although the clouds were bright enough to show the time was around midday or so.

Toothless was still in his spot, barely breathing. I guessed I had spent three hours passed out on the beach next to him. And that thunderstorm I was worried about was getting closer to Dragon Island. I still couldn't hear any thunder, but the lightning was definitely closer now.

I sat up with a grunt just as a low swishing sound caught my attention. It was to my left, maybe about a hundred feet away.

I heard a girl groan in frustration as the swishing stopped. It sounded like Astrid. No, it couldn't be. I was hallucinating. Really, why should my fortune smile at me?

"I am going to _kill_ him," Astrid said through clenched teeth. She sounded too real to be a hallucination, so I stood and looked left, hoping she wasn't griping about me.

Astrid and Stormfly couldn't have looked more pleasing to me even if they were bathed in a shaft of holy light and accompanied by Odin himself.

"HICCUP!" she shouted. She took off running toward me. Stormfly grunted in an effort to keep up. Astrid bounded toward me just as I got around Toothless and wrapped me in a hug I wasn't ready for. I collapsed on my rear with a groan, reminded of how weak I was from no food or water.

"You had me worried sick! Don't _ever_ do this to me again…" she paused mid-thought as her eyes lost focus slightly. "And what is that smell!?" Astrid stood away from me and looked around briefly, trying to locate what she was smelling. It didn't take long for her eyes to find Toothless and his mottled grey hide. Astrid stood rooted to her spot, her eyes wide in horror.

I didn't have the energy to get back to my feet for a little while, so I just sat there. Looked up at Astrid and said, "Please, you've gotta help Toothless."

"H-how long have you been here?" she asked slowly.

"I don't know. A day, maybe?"

"What happened to Toothless?"

I took a deep breath, not wanting to go through this again. "Uh, okay. Mildew tried to kill him, so I left Berk with Toothless. We were almost here when a lightning bolt struck him in the tail."

"And it did _that_ to his side?"

"No, I…I think that's from the water. He was lying on that side for a long time while the rain was falling."

Astrid stared at Toothless again. Just like me, she couldn't believe both of us were surviving so much turmoil. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. I watched as a tear rolled slowly down her face. She didn't try to get rid of it.

"Hiccup, I'm…I'm sorry. You should never have to go through this. I feel like I coulda done something to keep Mildew away from you."

I looked down, not saying anything. Mildew or not, Toothless and I were stuck here on Dragon Island with no hope of leaving anytime soon. The only feasible way to get Toothless off this island was by boat.

Astrid took a deep breath as Stormfly shuffled over to us. She moaned softly, telling us she had seen Toothless and me.

I heard Astrid sit down next to me. She put her hand over my left arm. I looked at her, seeing the deep concern behind her eyes. "What can I do?" she asked quietly.

I looked toward Berk, noticing the thunderstorm was inching its way between us and home. "How fast can you get home and back?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Pretty fast. Why?"

"We need food, water and supplies." Astrid looked at me without a change in her expression. It was her way of telling me to continue. "Toothless needs a basket of fish. I need something cooked. We all need water. And bring a large sponge with water for Toothless’ side."

Astrid stood up without a second thought. "Anything else?" she asked, like it was nothing to get all of that stuff here. I shook my head without looking at her. Astrid got onto Stormfly's back, and they took off. Leaving me and Toothless alone once more.

* * *

 

For the better part of an hour, I sat next to Toothless. I kept my hand on his head, letting him know I was gonna be here for him. I told him several times he was gonna be okay, that he was gonna live through this.

Stormfly's wings flapping caught my attention. She and Astrid landed after about an hour of being gone. Stormfly's back was laden with supplies I probably didn't ask for, but I wasn't gonna turn them down. It would have been dumb to try playing the stereotypical Viking when I wasn't sure if I'd live another day without food or water.

"RRRRRGH!" Astrid shouted as she dismounted. "I'm really gonna kill him!"

I looked up at her and cringed slightly. Now wasn't a good time for me to see or talk to someone who was irate. I watched as Astrid closed her eyes, trying to get rid of her anger.

"All right," she said with a long sigh. "We've gotta get Toothless under something."

"Anything close?" I asked.

She jerked her thumb in a direction behind herself. "Yeah, there's some kind of hollow in the mountain that way. That storm is moving too fast to wait."

 _Great_ , I thought. I turned back to Toothless and ran my fingers over his head gently. "C'mon, buddy," I pleaded. "Wake up."

Toothless exhaled deeply with a soft groan. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief. That small groan was the best thing I had heard for several days, if not longer. I continued knuckling over his head, waiting for him to decide.

He groaned again and stirred this time. His left eye barely moved from being so waterlogged, but I saw him try to move his right side.

"You can do this," I said gently. Lifted slightly on his right side in an effort to help him up. Toothless got the idea and groaned again, trying to get himself on his feet. It took him about two minutes, but he eventually rolled onto his front, his legs underneath him. Now all he had to do was stand. His dry side was facing me, so I scratched gently over his neck and flank. Toothless looked at me with his open eye knowingly, like he was thanking me for being there during his darkest hour. When he needed me there for him the most.

"I need a fish," I told Astrid. Seconds later, she was pressing a raw fish into my left hand. I held it in front of Toothless, hoping he'd get the message about having to move. He focused on it and crawled forward, barely keeping his chest off the rocks. "Tell me where to go," I said.

"Straight back, about fifty feet," Astrid replied. I heard her take Stormfly in that direction.

 _That's it_ , I thought. I kept eye contact with Toothless, holding the distance between us constant. Didn't want him to give up and become stranded again. He had a noticeable limp on his left side. Every time he took a step, the blood oozed out of his skin a little more.

"Keep coming, Hiccup. You're almost here," Astrid told me.

Maybe ten seconds after she warned me, a shadow fell over my eyes. This was the shelter she was talking about. Toothless continued forward, panting slightly from the pain. His open eye was showing way too much effort just to walk.

"Okay," she said.

I held the fish out for Toothless. He crept up to me and gingerly took the fish from my hand. Painstakingly swallowed, then collapsed with a long moan on his front. By the time he hit the ground, I had another fish ready for him. Held it in front of his snout. He went through the same routine, slowly pulling the fish out of my hand and taking his time in swallowing it. There was no initial grunt thanking me for the food, no sense of urgency to finish any part of this meal. I had no idea how hungry Toothless was, so I kept giving him fish at his pace until he decided to stop.

"When do you want your meal, Hiccup?" Astrid said while I was feeding Toothless.

"When I've gotten water to Toothless," I said without thought.

It wasn't much longer until Toothless sighed and wouldn't eat anything else. Before I could say anything, Astrid put a bucket of water at my left knee. I held it in front of Toothless’ snout, watching it curl slightly as he smelled what was in front of him. He groaned slightly, lifting his head and began drinking.

Toothless emptied the bucket quickly and lay on his front with a long, low moan.

Astrid must have done this before because she had my fish ready for me. It was lukewarm, but I couldn't be picky about it. I ate in silence, except for the wind and the surf.

"I'm jealous of you, Hiccup," Astrid said, breaking the silence between us.

"Hm?" I asked, my mouth full of fish.

"You picked a really good dragon. I kinda wish I would have been the one to find him."

I didn't know what to say. I put my fish down because I was finished with it and moved toward the sponge and bucket of water. We had several loose-fitting lids around the village that we could use to cover buckets. Made transporting them between islands much easier.

"As long as you're together, Mildew can't stand up to you for very long," she continued as I got the sponge wet.

I scoffed a little at her conjecture. "Well, as long as he has his little group, I don't think we can do very much about it."

"He's losing people left and right. They've been on this huge quest to find Toothless, and they can't. Mildew thinks Berk is still getting hammered by storms because Toothless is somewhere on the island."

"So they don't believe him anymore?" I asked.

"Most of them think he's gone insane. He's trying to tell everyone that all of the gods are angry at us for hiding a Night Fury, and that's why the storms have been so bad."

"Well, I _am_ hiding a Night Fury, if you think about it," I said, my sense of sarcasm returning. Astrid put her forehead in her right hand and shook her head with a small grin. I paused for a little bit, then asked, "Who were you bent on killing?"

Astrid looked at me and, without missing a beat, said, "Mildew. He thinks he owns Berk now. The people who are still following him have the island locked down. They'll try to kill any dragon they see. And they're not letting your dad be chief."

"How so?"

"They're always distracting him with problems that don't exist. They always say the problems are somewhere away from the village and that they're urgent."

"Does he believe them?"

"Not anymore. Your dad's back to doing his regular job. He basically ignores them. Most of the people following Mildew are paying more attention to your dad now."

“Has he said anything to Mildew?” I asked out of curiosity.

Astrid looked blankly ahead for a moment. “Not really. He’s just letting Mildew collapse on his own.”

I heard a few raindrops splash onto the rocky beach in front of us. I knew this shelter was the best we were gonna get for tonight. And I had someone to share in the isolation I had been feeling for the last day or so.

I sat down next to Toothless’ waterlogged side and began dabbing gently at his open sores. Luckily, Astrid thought to bring seaweed with her, so each time I finished with a spot, she laid the seaweed over it. Each time one of us touched Toothless’ side, he tensed slightly. I felt like we were going through the same agony as when we removed all those rock shards from Stormfly's feet. But this time, I felt worse. Because it was my dragon in pain.

"D'you think he'll be okay?" Astrid said as we neared finishing with Toothless’ side.

I shrugged. "I really hope so."

The rain turned into a wall of water cascading down the mountain and into the ocean. I put both buckets out so that they'd catch rain water for us to drink. It took maybe five minutes to fill them. I brought them back and held one in front of Toothless’ snout. He cleaned it out quickly, so he must have been feeling at least a little better. He drank some of the water from the second bucket before taking a deep breath and putting his head on his paws. And quietly fell asleep.

I watched as Astrid stroked his flank underneath his wing. Took a deep breath and said, "Thanks, Astrid."

She looked at me and said, "For what?"

"For caring."


	10. Chapter 10

Astrid sighed, watching Toothless sleep next to my feet. Probably not peacefully because of his side and tail. Stormfly was mere feet behind Astrid, keeping a lookout for anything that might have wanted to threaten us. And I was next to Toothless’ head.

Stuck. That was the only word I could think of. The only word that kept echoing around in my head. Stuck. Like two stones I pulled out of Toothless’ side. Like the rod that was still fused to his tail. Like our predicament now. Sure, Astrid and Stormfly could leave any time they wanted. They had a way off this Thor-forsaken island. Me and Toothless? Stuck.

Astrid had brought a leather tarp big enough to cover Toothless for the night. But never in a million years would it be useful as a sling. Especially going from Dragon Island to Berk. Even on Toothless, we could get here in maybe half an hour. And that was on our best days. Half an hour of hoping the ropes wouldn't break. Half an hour of hoping the leather wouldn't rip. Carrying a dragon on anything airborne from here to Berk was like a death sentence. You just didn't know when the dragon was gonna fall.

"Your dad's really worried about you," Astrid said, interrupting my silent reverie.

I stifled a sarcastic laugh. "Now? When something actually happens to me?"

"I guess." I was about to say something else when Astrid quickly continued. "Gobber is getting really depressed. He thinks he and your dad should have done more to protect you and Toothless."

"And they just realized that…" I said. "It's not like Mildew was being _obvious_ about his hatred toward Toothless." I thought about ranting, but decided against it. Astrid was probably irritated enough without having to hear me complain about something. And besides, it wouldn't have helped me and Toothless get off Dragon Island.

A blanket of silence fell over us. The only things I heard were the surf and our two dragons breathing.

"Why didn't you stand up to him?" Astrid asked me.

I knew at some point someone was gonna ask this question. And what made me feel worse about it was that I had no answer that was even remotely believable. I only knew I didn't put my foot down when Mildew was trying to verbally attack me and Toothless. I didn't tell him to stop, but I should have.

"I…I don't know," I said haltingly, like those three words were burning my mouth on the way out.

"That's not an answer, Hiccup," she said.

I took a deep breath. "I really don't know." I didn't want to say it, but I felt like being stranded here was my own fault. If I would have been more assertive toward Mildew, Toothless wouldn't be so injured. We wouldn't be stuck here on Dragon Island.

To answer her question, I came up with a half-truth. "I thought the storms were gonna end soon."

"Well, they're not over. Mildew still thinks you and Toothless are hiding somewhere on Berk nobody knows about. He's been going on and on about how the statue should have had a sacrifice with it."

I hadn't even thought about the statue since Toothless and I took off after disabling Mildew. I remembered him complaining about the statue not being in Thor's "likeness," whatever that meant. My dad was right about squelching Mildew's hot air. Nobody can see a god face-to-face and live.

"Lemme guess," I started. "He wanted Toothless on top of the statue…" I paused, not completing the sentence.

"And?" Astrid said.

"He wanted Toothless on top of the statue, where lightning was going to strike because it's attracted to iron…" I said slowly. Turned to Astrid and said, "D'you think Mildew knows lightning is attracted to iron?"

She looked at me and shrugged. "I just think he wanted the satisfaction of watching Toothless die."

You could torture Mildew to see if he knew about the lightning-iron thing and not gotten a word out of him. If he _did_ know about it, he certainly had an oblique way of showing.

I touched Toothless on his left cheek, the one on his still-waterlogged side. It felt like it was gonna tear open at any moment. I sighed and stroked the top of his head, where his skin was much more intact. He pulled in a deep breath and exhaled with a soft groan. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Astrid relax slightly. I only hoped Mildew would never get his wish about Toothless.

After another few minutes of silence, Astrid asked, "Did you really kick Mildew in…"

"Yep," I interrupted before she could complete her thought. My tone of voice suggested kicking Mildew like that was a daily routine, and I had zero interest in talking about it anymore.

"During that storm, I saw Mildew and his group march toward your door," she said. "I tried to stop them, but couldn't get there fast enough. And when I got inside, Mildew was already curled up on the ground. I never saw a grown man scream like that. And you and Toothless were already gone."

I smiled a little, then hid it. Didn't want Astrid to think I actually enjoyed it. In reality, I was undecided whether kicking Mildew like that was a good idea. On one hand, I felt I was justified in defending myself and Toothless from getting hurt. But on the other hand, I found out I didn't like having to hurt someone.

"I would've done the same thing," Astrid said to me after a short pause. I wasn't sure if Astrid could have rightfully said that to me. As long as I had known her, you didn't have to go very far to get hurt when she was around. "Really," she continued. "He deserved it."

I sighed again. "I just wish it hadn't gotten to that point. Was I _supposed_ to be on my own for all of this?" I asked rhetorically.

"I don't think so," Astrid said, ignoring my tone of voice.

"I felt completely isolated from everyone the last few days. And I know Mildew took advantage of it. Why did it take so long for anyone to notice?"

She didn't say anything, but I asked that question like I wanted an answer.

Thinking back, I could have handled the past few days so much better than I did. I really felt like I was the only reason why Toothless and I became stranded here. None of this would have happened if I would have stood my ground early on. If I would have been more vocal about what Mildew was doing. But now, I felt like the world was against me and there was nothing I could do to change it.

Astrid must have noticed my stress and said, "Don't beat yourself, Hiccup."

Against her wishes, I did it anyway. Just when I thought I couldn't sink to a lower level, the pressure of keeping my thoughts to myself became too much. "I…I feel like I'm the reason why we're here."

"Hiccup, none of this is your fault." Astrid went through a list that was similar to mine about what I could have done. "Yes, you could have stood up to Mildew. Yes, you could have told people about what Mildew was doing. But Mildew's the one who put you here."

"Are you saying I should get revenge?"

"Would it help?" she asked cryptically. She had that tone of voice that said I already knew the answer to this question.

I paused for a little bit. "I guess not."

"What if you went back to Berk and stood up to Mildew? What do you think would happen?"

"I don't know. He'd laugh at me?" I guessed.

"Do you think he'd try to kill Toothless if you stood in his way?"

"Maybe…" I trailed off.

"Here," she said. Astrid grabbed something out of a satchel next to Stormfly. Handed it to me. "All I want you to do is listen, and if you don't like it, you can try something else." She handed me the object, which was a short knife.

"What do you want me to…" I stopped, because I realized I wasn't listening to Astrid.

"If Mildew is really that bent on killing Toothless, let him know that he'll have to pay for it with his own life."

I recoiled. "What!?"

"Wouldn't Toothless do the same for you?" she asked.

"He…uh…" I stopped. I was gonna tell her that Toothless defending me was different, that it was his instinct. But in the end, Toothless would sacrifice his own life to keep me alive. There was no question about that.

"Really. Why should it be any different if you had to protect him?" she asked, driving her point into my head.

I stared at the knife, trying my hardest to come up with a reason why I wouldn't make this promise to Mildew. Honor, maybe? So I wouldn't have someone's blood on my hands? Nah. Mildew had done away with respect, nobility and honor a long time ago. But with some twisted sense of conscience, I somehow felt I was still supposed to hold onto those values. So if I gave Mildew that choice, would those values still be important?

I mulled the thought over in my head for a moment and finally came to an answer. Yes. Because I'd be standing up for what I thought was right. Thinking back, I had already done that. I didn't want to relive those memories again, but when Toothless was torn from me in the arena that day, I told my dad what I thought was right. That Toothless deserved to live. Not because he was a dragon or Night Fury, but because he was my friend. So why should that change all of a sudden?

"Okay," I said with a sigh. "I'll do it."

I felt Astrid put her hand on my shoulder. "I've got your back. Don't forget that, all right?"

I nodded, somehow feeling simultaneously better and worse about my predicament. Better because I had a plan for at least _something_. Worse because I wasn't at all comfortable threatening someone with his life.

I looked back at Toothless, who had his eyes closed and was breathing somewhat rhythmically. I closed my eyes and listened to him, reminded of how much he sounded like the bellows in the forge. As long as I could hear him breathing, I knew everything was going to be fine. I knew I was safe from anything because Toothless wasn't far away. I relaxed, feeling my shoulders drop several inches. We were gonna be fine. I was safe. Because I heard Toothless breathing.

* * *

 

I opened my eyes to find only Toothless next to me. The sky was a dark purple, except for a half-moon bathing the area in a soft white glow. In the lower light, Toothless’ skin looked a little better than it did during the daytime.

Slowly, I moved to a crawling position, my hips, knees and back groaning in pain from the sudden movement.

 _I just want to go home,_ I thought. Even if Gobber stuck me in the forge for a week and tasked me with making only horseshoes, I would have done it without a question. But I couldn't make anything here. Not when it was just me and Toothless on a barren island.

I looked at Toothless again and noticed a lighter area at the end of his tail. It was a bandage. Someone had removed the iron rod fused to his tail from the lightning bolt we took…when was it? Yesterday? Two days ago? Normally, I was proud of my sense of time. But now, I had no idea how many days we had been here.

As I turned my gaze back toward his head, I noticed his saddle was gone too. I didn't care what happened to it once I caught a glimpse of Toothless’ back. I was so worried about his tail that I had completely forgotten about his saddle. Where the saddle was resting, his skin had gone beyond the mottled gray I had somewhat grown used to. There were several open sores bleeding through the bandages covering his back.

I sighed in exasperation. "Toothless, I'm sorry," I told him.

As narrow as I was in my scope, I deserved to be abandoned here. If Toothless somehow miraculously healed within the next few hours, he deserved to be around someone who actually could take care of him. Like Astrid, maybe.

Several low whooshing sounds caught my attention somewhere in the distance. In our little cavern, I couldn't tell which direction they were coming from, but I guessed it was a dragon. I heard something heavy land on the rocky beach followed by several short grunts. Sounded like a Deadly Nadder. Like Stormfly.

I moved toward the opening as the grunts got louder. Just as I peeked around the corner, the dragon gave a high-pitched snarl and jumped backwards.

It was definitely a Deadly Nadder. And a wild one at that, too. It had a light green back instead of the blue I was used to with Stormfly. The dragon's mouth was slightly open, but what concerned me even more was its tail. The Nadder had its tail spikes standing at attention, ready to whip them in my direction.

I gulped, knowing I was too far away to even think about approaching the dragon. I kept eye contact with it, hoping it wouldn’t decide to throw a few tail spikes in my direction.

The Nadder and I stared at each other for a few seconds, which passed like hours. After a while, the dragon tensed and jumped into the air. It took off, probably trying to find somewhere less populated. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Toothless and I had been spared for at least a few more minutes.

Behind me, I heard footsteps running in my direction. I didn't know of any dragon that sounded that light on its feet. Turned to find Astrid silhouetted in the moonlight running toward me. She stopped about five feet away and said, "How's Toothless?"

I shrugged. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "I don't think he should be around me anymore."

Even though she was backlit by the moonlight, I still saw her do a double-take. "Wh-what?"

"He…he deserves someone better than me," I choked out.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't even take care of him."

"Hiccup, what are you talking about? Are you going crazy?"

"I didn't do anything about his tail or saddle when I should have. I didn't even _think_ about his back until his saddle was gone."

Astrid paused for a second, then shouted, "Hiccup, I told you not to beat yourself about this! Really, quit trying to blame yourself for what happened! You're the only person on Berk who would have even thought about taming a Night Fury. And now you just want to give up?" I opened my mouth to say something when she cut me off. "I don't care if I have to glue you to his back. You're not letting Toothless go just because _you_ _feel sorry for yourself_." She slurred those last five words, making sure I got her point.

Astrid was right. It was stupid of me to even approach something like that. Maybe I'd feel better in the future, but right now, I was at rock-bottom emotionally.

"So, are you going to stand up, or do I have to do this the hard way?" she asked after a few moments.

I simply looked at Astrid with a slightly confused face, which seemed to exacerbate my situation.

"All right, fine. The hard way it is." She grabbed me underneath my upper arm and dragged me to my feet. "At least look somewhat excited, because you and Toothless are going home."

I couldn't see it very clearly because it was backlit by soft moonlight, but in the distance was unmistakably the silhouette of a boat.


	11. Chapter 11

As the mast in the distance slowly grew larger, a dreading feeling intensified in my chest. Astrid told me only seconds ago that Toothless and I were about to be _en route_ to Berk, and all I could think of was how I didn't want to get on that boat. Toothless and I had been marooned on Dragon Island for the last two days. I knew I was starving and parched. Toothless probably was as well. But for some reason, Berk was the last place I wanted to be at the moment.

If they gave me a choice, what would I have done? I knew I didn't want to stay here on Dragon Island. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew it was going to disappoint Astrid, but I couldn't even act like I was relieved or excited or happy that we were going home.

The outline of a Viking with a missing leg and a hook for a hand was first out of the boat. Probably Gobber. Two others with all their arms and legs still intact exited soon after him.

"There he is!" Gobber exclaimed. He lumbered toward me and Astrid and stopped a few feet away. I didn't have the energy or desire to look up, so I continued staring at the ground.

"Can you _please_ show some decency, Hiccup!?" Astrid shouted in my ear.

Slowly, I craned my neck upward to find a very relieved Gobber. "Oh, thank Thor you're alive!" he shouted. "Stoick and I have been worried sick about you and Toothless. I was sure Mildew had killed your dragon."

I sighed, trying to get at least some emotion out. Being stuck here had drained me mentally. "Uh, about Toothless…"

The excited relief instantly disappeared from Gobber's eyes. I felt Astrid's arm tense around mine. She had probably figured I was about to say something stupid again.

"He's injured. It's bad…" I slumped a little in Astrid's grip.

"Where is he?" Gobber asked urgently.

Without saying a word, Astrid turned me around and started shuffling toward Toothless, dragging me along with her. We stopped when we reached him.

"Oh, gods…" Gobber stuttered. "What did Thor do to him?"

"Hiccup says a lightning bolt hit his tail fin," Astrid said quickly.

"Uh, Astrid? Either I'm going blind or his tail fin isn't here," Gobber said.

"The frame melted to his skin," I said, trying to keep my sentences short. I really didn't want to talk about Toothless’ condition right now. I had to witness everything that happened to him for the last few days, and it was a memory I didn't want to relive at the moment.

"You're joking," Gobber said flatly. "There is no way any kind of iron can melt that quickly."

"Okay, fine! _Don't_ believe anything I say!" I shouted to him. "His fin and saddle aren't here, and that's all you need to know."

"And where are they?" Gobber asked in irritation.

"Destroyed," I said flatly. "The connecting rods disappeared, and the stirrup was torn open."

"What!? How?" he asked.

My free hand met my forehead. "Lightning," Astrid and I said simultaneously.

"What are you two going on about? How can lightning…"

"Gobber, stop!" Astrid shouted. This conversation felt like it was gonna go around in circles for eternity.

"I have an idea," I stated before anyone else could do anything. "Let's pretend that I've been stuck here with Toothless who's in trouble, and I want to get him home before something can come along and kill him."

Nobody moved. I pulled my arm out of Astrid's grasp and shuffled over to Toothless’ head. Knelt by him and put my right hand on the back of his neck. Looked up at the other four Vikings here. "Help me get Toothless home."

One of Gobber's cohorts turned to him after a short pause and said, "How do we get him on the boat?"

Gobber continued staring blankly at Toothless and me. He took long enough for me to surmise that they never thought of a plan for something like this. "Let's see what we can find on the boat," he said after another hesitation.

A small bit of movement near my hand caught my attention. Toothless had opened his left eye slightly. It was still swollen, but his skin looked like it was starting to return to normal. I turned my full attention to Toothless, just as his left eye focused on me. We made eye contact for the first time in about two days. I felt a deep, calming presence settle over my shoulders. At that moment, I hoped I would never forget what that felt like.

I smiled a little, the first time I was sincere about it for a while. "Hey, buddy," I whispered to him. His left eye kept its focus on me. "We're going home."

I knuckled gently into the top of his head. Toothless moaned softly and closed his eyes, telling me he appreciated the attention. For a moment, I completely forgot we were stranded with Gobber and his cohorts puzzling over how to get Toothless into their boat.

 _We're going home_ , I thought, repeating that sentence in my head several times. When I said it to Toothless, I meant it. Like I was looking forward to being on Berk again with him. I sighed in a mixture of relief and happiness. Because we were going home. Who knew a dragon simply looking at me could alter my state of mind? And so quickly, too. I guessed he really did have some kind of magic inside him.

"All right, Hiccup," Gobber said, breaking my euphoria. I glanced up at him as he continued, "I think we can do this."

"Just be careful about his left side," I said, pointing out the obvious. Gobber simply nodded and had his two fellow Vikings lift Toothless up in sections. I stayed next to his head, keeping within his eyesight, just in case he started panicking. But he never did. The two Vikings were gentle enough with him that Toothless barely changed his breathing pattern. Gobber worked a plank underneath Toothless as they lifted him.

"I _knew_ there was a reason we keep these planks on every boat we've got," Gobber said. He tried to make it sound like he had planned for this exact situation, but I knew he was being sarcastic. I rolled my eyes slightly.

"Ready?" one of the Vikings asked.

"Ready," Gobber said back.

Gobber and one of the Vikings lifted the ends of the plank, struggling to return to an upright walking position.

"Has he always been this heavy?" Gobber asked me with a sideways glance.

I felt it returning. My sense of sarcasm was coming back to me, because I just couldn't resist. "I don't know. I never tried to lift him."

"Wise guy," he muttered as the other Viking he had come with joined them in the middle of the plank.

I followed closely, knowing there wasn't much I could do to help except offer moral support. The three Vikings carrying Toothless slowly made their way back to the boat. As we got closer, I saw another plank acting as a walking ramp on and off the boat. My heart dropped, knowing Toothless would slide off the plank and collapse on the ground. Worse, he'd land directly on Gobber, and would probably end up injuring him.

As they neared the boat, Gobber called out, "Lower your end once you get on the ramp. I'll raise this end, because we have to keep the dragon level."

 _If there is ever a time for a plan to work, this would be it_ , I thought. I almost couldn't watch, but this was Toothless they were carrying.

Gobber and his two cohorts were communicating with each other like I had never seen Vikings do. Normally, we'd just rush into something like this. But now, it seemed like they were taking great care to keep Toothless from falling.

I watched as the first Viking got into the boat. The second one stood away from the plank because there was no way for him to lift in the middle without tilting it. Gobber slowly limped up the ramp, using his peg to gain traction. They set Toothless down gently in the middle of the boat.

Gobber stood up and stretched his back. "I hope I _never_ have to do that again," he complained to no one in particular.

Without thinking, I rushed up the ramp, nearly shoving Astrid and the other Viking away. Sat down by Toothless’ head and took root there. The only way I was leaving this spot was to set foot once again on Berk.

I stroked underneath Toothless’ chin. He moaned again, craning his neck slightly. I noticed Astrid had sat down next to me, while Stormfly was curled up near the bow. "He sounds really good," I said to her. She looked at me knowingly and nodded with a little smile.

"Looks like everyone is present and accounted for," Gobber said. He and one of the Vikings used long oars to push off from shore. They began rowing, orienting us back toward home.

"We're going home," I whispered to Toothless again. He sighed happily, knowing I was there for him.

Toothless opened his left eye again and moved his head slightly back toward his chest. He found my arm next to him and gave my hand a slow lick, leaving a trail of saliva. I didn't do anything about it because he was working his magic once again. He was the reason I was happy to go back home. Not because someone had come to our rescue, although I was grateful for that too.

I thought it was kinda strange how we could get to and from Dragon Island so easily nowadays. For three hundred years, we had been searching for that island, and now it was simply another place in the ocean. Maybe the Red Death had something to do with our difficulty in finding the island. Whatever the reason, I knew Gobber and the Viking manning the oars wouldn't have any trouble getting back home.

I didn't care how long we took on the trip to Berk. My attention never wavered from Toothless, and I kept a hand on him because I didn't want to let go of him. Ever.

* * *

 

"Did you find him?" a voice asked. It sounded like my dad.

"Both of them," Gobber said.

I felt the boat rock slightly. A shadow fell over Toothless just before I felt a gentle pressure on my shoulder. Looked up to find my dad with a weary expression I had never seen on his face before.

"Welcome back, son," he said quietly.

"Thanks," I whispered. I wished I could have come up with something more elegant, but it would do for now. My dad smiled a little under his beard and gently lifted me away from Toothless.

My dad looked at Toothless and knew instantly what we had gone through. He didn't ask for an explanation of what happened. He only said, "Let's get you and Toothless home."

He ushered me off the boat, while Gobber and another one of the Vikings with us lifted the plank Toothless was still resting on. Gobber sighed audibly in irritation, knowing he had to carry Toothless again.

I glanced around, for the first time taking note of the sky. Night had already fallen without a trace of thunderstorms nearby. Maybe they were finished for good. But I noticed something else too. My dad was the only one to meet us at the docks. Like he, Gobber and Astrid were trying to keep this secret somehow.

If Toothless’ condition wasn’t so dire, I would have loved to sit here on the docks and simply watch the ocean march back and forth. Or watch the skylights slowly morph into different shapes and patterns.

"Let's go, son," my dad said quietly.

I led the Vikings and Stormfly up the slopes, making sure to watch how they were handling the plank. Although, this time, I felt a lot less worried for some reason. Even though we seemingly had to walk a mile upward just to get to level ground.

I got up to the top of the docks when I bumped into something. Looked upward to find none other than Mildew. So much for the secret of our return. My shoulders slumped a little because I realized he was the reason I didn't want to be on Berk again.

He shoved me backwards a little and rasped, "I ought to kill your dragon for what you did to me."

I didn't feel like encouraging him, so I pushed my way in between him and Toothless. And never looked at him. It wasn't too hard acting like I was worn out.

I knew he'd catch a glimpse of Toothless anyway. I just wanted to stay between them. The knife Astrid gave me was hidden underneath my vest, supported by my belt. I didn't want to use it, but I was ready if Mildew pushed the issue enough.

Mildew made a show of widening his eyes in shock and gasping dramatically. "What did you do to your dragon, Hiccup?" he said in fake surprise as my dad, Gobber and the Viking I still didn't recognize carried Toothless silently past us. "I think you should put him out of his misery. Just end it all now, because I bet your dragon…" he paused for a second, acting like he was thinking. "…Oh, what _is_ his name? Toothless, maybe?" He waited for me to answer. I continued looking down, simply keeping myself between him and Toothless. "I bet _Toothless_ is upset with you." Mildew slurred my dragon's name, trying to get a rise out of me. He was doing a great job at it too. I felt my blood boiling, ready to lash out with the knife. He'd never see it coming either. But I stayed there, focusing on the spot of ground between us. "You brought this on him, you know. He's never going to heal."

"Are we almost there?" Gobber asked, interrupting Mildew's spiel.

"Almost," my dad said. They were some distance away from us, so I knew I had done what I needed to keep Mildew away from Toothless.

"You said 'almost' five minutes ago!" Gobber shouted back.

Mildew grabbed my wrist and put something in my hand. It was a knife. He closed my hand around it and said, "Take this to his throat, and it will all be over in a few minutes. Just think, you're being merciful to your dragon by sparing him a long, slow death."

My dad and Gobber had probably reached my house by now. "Thanks for the knife," I mumbled, not looking up at him. Turned around. And slowly walked home.

I white-knuckled the knife. It was everything I could do to keep from throwing a massive fit after hearing what Mildew had "suggested" to me. I knew Toothless would be okay. It was just going to take time. And Mildew hadn't seen how Toothless looked at me while we were on the boat returning home. I simply decided to walk home and do my best to forget about Mildew.

As I shut the door walking in, my dad noticed the knife in my hand. "Where'd you get the knife?"

"Mildew gave it to me."

Astrid's expression went from somewhat tired to concerned. "Wh-what for?" she asked slowly.

I shrugged, trying to keep what Mildew said a secret between us. "To keep." I figured there wasn't a good answer to Astrid's question.

"Hiccup, you don't just go around stealing other people's possessions. You know that," my dad said to me.

"Well," I said emphatically. "Mildew gave this knife to me so that I could 'end Toothless’ misery.'" I paused for dramatic effect. "But I think it'll have better use in the forge or in a kitchen." I placed the knife on the table and left it there.

"I…am…going…to…strangle…him," Astrid said through clenched teeth.

But my dad's expression told me he understood my actions. Mildew wasn't going to get the satisfaction of having one less Night Fury on Berk. He pulled me into a hug and said, "I'm proud of you, son."

I didn't say a word or look up at him. Still too close to flying into a rage. My dad let me go, and I shuffled to Toothless. I sat down next to him and stayed there, silently protecting him.


	12. Chapter 12

Astrid sat down next to me and put her arm around my shoulder, pulling me into a loose hug. Just like she promised, she was there for me, even though she didn't do anything. But I thought that was why I needed her most. Just in case.

I watched Toothless breathing. Watched as the firelight danced over his skin in diffuse reflections. Some parts of his left side were completely healed, which made it look worse than it really was.

I sighed as I put my chin in my hands, looking through the hearth in front of us. Without looking at Astrid, I said quietly, "I thought everything was gonna be normal again once we got home."

She pulled me closer to her. I let her, mainly because I didn't have the energy to stop her. Not to mention I actually liked being around Astrid. "It'll take time," she said. And she was silent after that.

Even though Astrid was next to me, making sure I was gonna be fine, nothing she said or did would make me feel better. I felt so alone and helpless seeing Toothless in this state, knowing he wasn't there to protect me.

I remained silent for a short moment, listening to the fire crackle, listening to Toothless breathing. It was awfully quiet in this house other than the fire and Night Fury in front of us. My dad and Gobber had already left to do whatever needed to be done around the village. Inside, I hoped my dad was headed for Mildew's place for a few choice words.

Astrid pulled me tighter and said, "He's so peaceful." She was referring to Toothless.

I took a moment to really pay attention to Toothless. With the exception of parts of his left side, upper back and tail, he looked generally content with the world. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing rhythmically. No grimace, like what had permanently burned itself into my memory after we took that lightning bolt. Where his skin was untouched by waterlogging, it was a beautiful jet black that reminded me of the night sky. Or a shadow.

A shadow…

An idea struck me, one that made me wish I didn't have to wait until Toothless healed and I had a new saddle and tail fin ready for him. I wanted to learn how to be stealthy with Toothless. He already knew how because of his instincts. But once he healed, my goal was to learn from him how he stayed hidden.

But the idea passed just as quickly as it came, lodging itself somewhere in the recesses of my mind. Maybe I'd remember it when Toothless awoke.

I heard the door creak open as someone walked in. The footsteps had an alternating _pat-clunk_ sound, meaning it was either Gobber or Mulch.

"I was wondering where you went, Astrid," the Viking behind us said. It was Gobber. Stormfly huffed slightly at him, probably because he stepped too close to her head.

I continued staring at nothing as Astrid took her arm off my shoulder, stood and faced Gobber. "Do you need something?" she asked.

"Just to check on Hiccup," he replied. "Stoick just finished…um…'talking' with Mildew." Gobber emphasized "talking," meaning my little wish about Mildew had been granted. Whether he learned something from it remained to be seen. But deep down inside, I felt like this was only gonna cause Mildew to attack me and Toothless with a vengeance. He was gonna have yet another reason to be angry with me.

"Oh, good," Astrid said obviously. She turned to me and said in an obvious whisper, "Let's steal Fungus if he doesn't listen to your dad."

I smirked a little, but ignored her suggestion. Another idea had taken the previous one's place and was smashing against the inside of my head, dying to get out. I stood like I was a hundred years old and faced Gobber and Astrid. "I say we get rid of the statue and perches."

"Uh, Hiccup," Astrid began. "You _do_ realize we're talking about Mildew, right?"

I shrugged. "I gathered that."

Gobber scowled at me slightly after that sarcastic comment. "How do the perches and statue have anything to do with Mildew?" he asked.

"If we remove them from town, he can't use them as leverage anymore," I stated. Both of them looked at me with blank stares. Time to start talking like Hiccup. "The iron attracts lightning," I said after a deep breath.

Astrid immediately realized what I was onto. Gobber, however, was still lost.

"We get rid of the perches and statue, and the storms will return to normal," I continued. Astrid's eyes clouded over in thought. She was about to say something. I paused, waiting for her.

"What if we put the statue on a higher point on the island?" Astrid blurted out. "That way, the lightning will avoid town." She had an evil look on her face, which told me exactly where she wanted to move the statue.

Gobber noticed her expression too and said, "Oh, no you're not. Mildew stays out of this."

"So, does that mean you're on his side?" she asked without missing a beat. "You want to get rid of Toothless?"

"No!" he shouted. "But I…"

"So then you support our idea," she interrupted.

I went along with Astrid's little argument, even though I hadn't said anything beyond removing the statue and perches. I thought it was humorous seeing her back Gobber into a proverbial corner anyway.

Gobber paused for a second and then said, "Look, you can't put me on the spot like this."

"You're either for us or against us," she told him. It was obvious Astrid was struggling to keep a straight face.

Gobber sighed and thought for a little bit. His eyes showed a little bit of realization when he figured out what Astrid had really done to him. She had forced him to agree to her idea, and I was mostly sure of what it entailed. "I'm staying out of this," he said. And walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him. I guessed a neutral Gobber wasn't necessarily bad for Astrid's scheme.

Astrid shot Stormfly a quizzical look as Gobber stepped out. She had apparently huffed at him again. I wasn't sure if Stormfly didn't like Gobber or if he had simply invaded her space a little more than she wanted. Astrid walked over to her, checking on her state of mind. Looked like normal to me.

I looked back toward Toothless and noticed he was still in the same position. I had become excited about causing Mildew grief, and then my emotions plummeted just as quickly. It felt like the last few minutes didn't even happen. I sighed and sat back down next to Toothless. Ran my hand over the top of his head. I noticed how leathery his skin felt where it was untouched by waterlogging.

"You're still worried about him, aren't you," Astrid inferred, speaking from near her dragon. I nodded slowly, keeping my gaze forward.

As I kept my attention on Toothless, I realized at least one thing I had been missing since we were stranded on Dragon Island. I missed the feeling of Toothless’ protection. I could always count on Toothless to be there for me when I was scared or simply having a foul day. I always felt safe when he looked at me knowingly. But now, I realized why I was feeling so scared and alone. Because he wasn’t healthy enough to truly protect me right now.

I also missed flying. But I knew it would have to wait. His back and tail needed to heal, and I needed to build a new flying apparatus from scratch. Hadn't done that since the first week he became part of my life. I hoped it would be easier this time around. I could bring Toothless into the armory with me for exact measurements. I knew I had gotten lucky the first time. Didn't mean it would happen again.

I was lost in thought when I heard a low moan in front of me. Toothless clenched his jaw and eyes tightly as he stretched. His left side was still limited in motion, probably because he felt the pain from his skin being so damaged. But he was moving. He held his stretch for a couple of seconds then immediately relaxed with a long sigh.

_ Remember, you'd spare him a long and painful death. End his suffering now. He's probably upset with you anyway. _ Mildew's twisted words had suddenly pushed themselves to the front of my thoughts, exactly at the time I didn't need to be aware of them. Not that anytime day or night was ideal for this, mind you.

But the longer I sat there, the louder those words became. It was only a matter of time before my hands and feet would start working on their own, listening to what Mildew had said upon my arrival back home. I closed my eyes and tried to let the thoughts drown themselves out on their own.

Mildew's presence somehow kept intensifying itself, no matter what I did. Like it was the way he said it to me, or how much I didn't want to be around him. I needed a distraction, so I stood and turned toward Astrid. I didn't want to let her know about what I was thinking, so I asked her, "Can you and Stormfly help get rid of the statue and perches?"

"I, uh, I thought we had already agreed on that," she replied. She looked at me in slight confusion, probably because my question seemed redundant.

"Well, I think the statue should be moved to a high point on the island, like you said."

"Like…Mildew's house, maybe?" she said slowly for dramatic effect. Astrid had a small grin creeping across her face.

"I don't think it's gonna matter. As long as it's not on his house or in his 'vegetable garden,' we should be okay." I slurred the words "vegetable garden." Nobody had seen Mildew take anywhere near good care of it, which explained the weak cabbage he routinely gave us during the harvest.

"How is it not going to matter?"

"If we have another storm, the statue will attract the lightning. I think you're right that it'll keep the lightning away from town. But it'll be loud for Mildew," I said.

"And you _care_ about him!?" she railed. "Really?"

"No," I said without missing a beat. "After what he did to me and Toothless, I'd feel great watching lightning hit that statue while he's near it."

" _That's_ more like it," Astrid said in relief.

"I just can't think of a reason we could use to put the statue there."

"I'm sure your dad won't really care after what Mildew's been doing," Astrid replied.

She had a fair point. I probably didn't need to worry about anything my dad would say. But having a reason to put the statue there would definitely keep me safe just in case he did decide that Mildew was worth something in this village.

I thought back to our little arguments before Toothless and I escaped Berk during that thunderstorm. I wondered if there was anything Mildew or someone else said that would give me leverage for relocating that statue. Revenge was out of the question. I had to convince people moving the statue there was a good idea.

How could I do that? After a few seconds in thought, I realized any reason I came up with would have to involve Mildew. Not me. Make _him_ part of the reason. Was there something he complained about? I knew he didn't like the statue…

"What are you thinking about?" Astrid asked. I couldn't hide any expression that told the world I was lost in thought, and something had just clicked.

"I got it," I said, returning my focus to the world in front of me.

"Got what?" she prompted.

"According to Mildew, the statue wasn't in 'Thor's likeness.' We can give it to him so that he can remodel it."

Astrid looked at me blankly. "Really?" she asked after a brief pause. "You actually _had_ to think of a reason for this?"

"It couldn't hurt, could it?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "You are the most elaborate Viking ever."

"Why, thank you," I said like it was completely normal.

We looked at each other for a few seconds, and I could have sworn there was something in the air between us. For a brief moment, I saw Astrid in a completely different way. She looked prettier for some reason. But the moment disappeared, leaving me wondering why I felt like that. I decided to keep it a secret for now. Maybe I'd tell her later.

I noticed Astrid's focus had shifted anyway. She was looking to my left, toward the hearth. I heard a low groan and a shuffle as a dark figure blocked my view of the fireplace. Just as I glanced in that direction, I saw two deep yellow-green eyes staring at me from maybe two feet away.

Toothless closed his eyes slowly and nudged underneath my left arm with his snout. He groaned softly, telling me he wanted attention. The skin on his left side was still fragile, so I kept my hand on the top of his head, just to make sure.

"Hi, bud," I said quietly. He murmured with his eyes closed, telling me he was gonna be fine.

"He hasn't changed one bit," Astrid pointed out.

I shrugged. "Doesn't need to. He's perfect."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Astrid sidle her way in front of Toothless. His snout curled slightly, probably because he noticed her smell. He opened his eyes and looked at her for a second before leaning forward and nudging her right hand with his snout. Astrid scratched underneath Toothless’ chin, making him murmur and smile with his eyes closed.

It wasn't hard to guess when Toothless wanted attention, and this was one of those times. I let Astrid stay at his front, where she continued petting Toothless until he decided he had enough. Usually, his signal was to gently flip my hand away, but he never told Astrid to stop.

"Do you and Stormfly wanna stay here for the rest of the night?" I asked after a few moments.

"Lemme check," she said. She made a show of turning her attention to Stormfly, then looked at me again. "Stormfly said 'yes.'"

I rolled my eyes slightly. Normally, I was the one who would act like that. "I'm gonna get Toothless outside for a little while." Without giving her a chance to answer, I slowly led Toothless to the door, passing close to Stormfly on the way out. She grunted, but never showed any frustration like she did with Gobber. I opened the door and let Toothless amble out, following him with Astrid and Stormfly behind me. Sat down on the stoop and kept Toothless in sight. I was pretty sure he wouldn't wander off, especially with his side the way it was. But I also knew letting him use the skylight to go in and out of the house wasn't an option. It would have been too much for him to handle at this point. Besides, it was probably still covered.

"Stay close, bud," I said to my dragon. Toothless glanced at me briefly before trodding around the corner of the house, out of my sight. I didn't stop him. He wasn't going far anyway. Turned my attention upward, noticing we had a clear sky with a diffuse light show taking place. The soft green patterns continuously morphed into different shapes and swirls, almost telling a story without words the entire time.

Astrid sat down quietly next to me while Stormfly ambled in front of us. Her dragon stopped occasionally to preen herself. "When do you think Toothless will be able to fly again?" she asked.

"I don't know. When he's ready, I guess."

I was about to say something else when I heard a loud shriek come from my left, the direction Toothless had gone before the house hid him. I bolted up and took off running in that direction. I knew Toothless had intonations in his grunts, roars and murmurs. This time sounded like he was alarmed about something. Like there was a threat near him.

As I rounded the corner of the house, Toothless was maybe fifty feet away from me, locked up in what looked like fear. His wings were folded at odd angles, telling me something had caught him.

"Don't come any closer, boy!" a voice rasped. In the pale moonlight, I saw the occasional pattern of a rope net we used often for fishing. A split-second's worth of thought told me Mildew had somehow restrained Toothless using this net. And Toothless wasn't shooting any fireballs.

"I told you to end your dragon's suffering, but you didn't. Now I have to do it for you," Mildew said. He immediately produced a knife and began moving toward Toothless. "You're too merciful to these creatures," he continued. "You're willing to let them live when they steal our food, destroy our homes and kill Vikings. When are you going to realize Vikings and dragons can't live together?"

Mildew was about three feet away from gutting Toothless when out of nowhere I heard Astrid shout, "SPINE SHOT!"

There was a grunt followed by a whipping sound. In slow motion, I heard Stormfly's tail spikes hissing through the air. I heard at least one of them hit the ground, followed by another one hitting with a muffled _thock_ sound. In the moonlight, Mildew's pained grimace told me exactly what he was feeling. He dropped his knife harmlessly on the ground and immediately reached toward his right leg. I had never seen Stormfly actually impale someone with a tail spike until now. I also realized I never wanted to see or hear it again.

I heard Gobber shout from behind us, "WHAT IN THOR'S NAME IS GOING ON!?" He rushed past me and Toothless to find Mildew curled up and shouting in pain, holding his right thigh where a Deadly Nadder tail spike could be clearly seen.

Without thinking, I tried to cover for Astrid's actions. "HE WAS GONNA KILL TOOTHLESS!"

From my right, I caught a glimpse of another large Viking running in our direction. My dad must have been coming from the great hall. He apparently noticed Toothless first because he shouted in our general direction, "WHY IS TOOTHLESS TRAPPED!?" He glanced at Mildew and I noticed his shoulders slump visibly.

"Stoick, he's got a Nadder spike in his leg," Gobber said over Mildew's shouting.

"Who, Toothless?" my dad asked.

"No, Mildew!"

My dad turned his attention to Mildew, who screamed at the top of his lungs, "KILL THE GIRL'S DRAGON! SHE CAN'T CONTROL IT!"

My dad, Gobber and Astrid stared at Mildew, waiting for him to finish his screaming fit. The spike was still embedded in his leg, and I wanted it to stay there as long as possible.

It didn't take long for Mildew to realize nobody cared about him shouting, so he stopped, whimpering occasionally when his leg moved. My dad immediately reached down and pulled him up by the arm with a gruff sigh. "Get Toothless inside," he told me as he dragged Mildew toward the great hall.

I stood in shock as Gobber and my dad took Mildew away from here. "C'mon, Hiccup!" Astrid shouted at me. My mind snapped back to the present tense as I saw Astrid kneeling by Toothless. I walked forward and grabbed the net holding Toothless down. Lifted it to find sections of his side bleeding again from the friction of the rope. The net had a strong fishy smell.

I slowly peeled the net away from Toothless as Astrid removed a muzzle that Mildew had somehow gotten onto him. As I walked toward his front, my right boot squelched in what I thought was mud. I looked down and saw the ground had been loosened, like someone had dug a hole, turned the dirt over and filled it with water. I realized Toothless’ front left foot was stuck in mud. That was how Mildew trapped him.

"How did Mildew trap him?" Astrid asked, as if she were on cue.

"Here," I said. Astrid walked over and lost her balance slightly as her foot found the same mud pit I had just encountered. She groaned in frustration.

While Astrid railed about Mildew's dogged attempts to kill Toothless, I dug my hands into the mud, trying to help Toothless get his leg out. Mildew had a pretty good idea of what it would take to get a dragon about Toothless’ size trapped. The mud had a little suction to it when I moved my hand around. Toothless had probably panicked just long enough for Mildew to get a muzzle and net over him. But it was all he needed.

As soon as I uncovered Toothless’ foot, he grunted and yanked it out of the mud pit. And took off in a running limp toward the door. I didn't blame him for wanting to be inside again. I followed with Astrid still complaining and opened the door. Stormfly was behind her. All four of us filed inside. I walked upstairs to get a cloth rag, while Astrid sat down at the table with an exasperated sigh. I came back downstairs to find her with her face buried in her arms. Walked over to Toothless and gently cleaned his foot, trying to keep from opening his skin again. I kept eye contact with him, making sure he knew I was here, making sure he knew I was gonna stay with him.

Over a period of about five minutes, Toothless slowly relaxed. I stayed by his side, protecting him, just like he always did with me. Astrid and Stormfly were already asleep, worn out from the trip back to Berk and then fighting off Mildew. I sat down next to Toothless and stroked the right side of his head. I still felt uneasy, but I knew Mildew wasn't going to be walking anytime soon. Thank goodness, too. I sighed, leaning against Toothless’ right side. And it didn't take long before we fell asleep near the hearth.


	13. Chapter 13

Toothless woke me up with a low rumble, licking me in the face. I slowly returned to consciousness to find Astrid still asleep at the table with her face buried in her arms. Stormfly was four feet away from her, breathing rhythmically.

"Mm. All right, bud," I whispered. Toothless nuzzled against the side of my face, asking for attention. He pulled back and looked at me with his deep yellow-green eyes. This time though, I didn't feel that connection between us. There was something else in his gaze. Like he was worried.

"Is the sun up yet?" I whispered to no one in particular, getting up and walking toward the door. Toothless followed me, nearly colliding with my feet from being so close. I quietly opened the door and saw some dancing shadows from fire light around the plaza. The sky was completely dark; not even starlight reached my eyes. Cloudy, possibly with some more rain coming. I shut the door quietly to keep Astrid and Stormfly from waking and walked back to the hearth. Toothless followed every step of the way.

"What are you so worried about?" I asked. Sat down on the floor and looked at him. He pushed his snout gently into my left shoulder. Toothless was being too persistent to just ask for my attention. If that were the case, I could ignore him for a few minutes and he'd get the message. But now was totally different. Toothless was begging to stay close. Something was definitely getting to him, and it was apparently up to me to protect him.

"It's okay, bud," I said to him. Stroked across his right cheek. He lay down with a short huff and put his head in my lap, looking up at me. I continued petting him, just hoping he'd calm down within the near future. I was exhausted from being stranded and having all of those arguments with Mildew. But when Toothless was worried, he made sure to let me know about it.

I had never seen Toothless this preoccupied. Granted, he had only been a part of my life for about a year. But he never calmed down, never relaxed, no matter how much attention and comfort I could give him. I was afraid he'd suddenly lash out at something or someone just for startling him. Or he'd panic and end up hurting himself like however many nights ago that ball of lightning happened.

I continued stroking his head and neck, but I didn't say anything to him. I had run out of things to say. Not to mention I was tired. I made occasional eye contact with Toothless to let him know I was paying attention to him.

A low rumble from outside told me another storm was headed our way. Just for once, I hoped we'd get lucky and have mostly rain. I doubted it though, thanks to the statue and perches that weren't just going to disappear on their own. I sighed a little, trying to keep Toothless from feeling my irritation. I didn't care how we were gonna do it, but I wanted the statue and perches out of Berk by tomorrow's end. So that Mildew wouldn't have any more reason to complain.

Mildew. Toothless must have been worried about him. And rightfully so; Mildew had made several attempts to either get rid of him or kill him. Luckily, he was going to be crippled for a while. Which wasn't too far removed from his normal state. I chuckled on the inside, imagining the pain and suffering he was having to go through now. It felt so _good_ to think about it too.

Toothless brushed his snout against my chest again. I had stopped giving him my undivided attention. "I'm about to fall asleep, buddy," I whispered to him. "What are you gonna do then?" I tried to sound a little playful, hopefully easing Toothless’ state of mind.

A light patter started outside, which was normal for a storm around Berk. I simply continued petting Toothless. I wasn't going anywhere, especially now that Mildew was seemingly bedridden. I had a strong hunch that his followers weren't going to be so eager in their quest to find and kill a Night Fury anymore.

As the patter of the rain intensified, I hugged Toothless lightly and whispered, "We're gonna be fine, bud. I'm gonna protect you." And slowly fell asleep holding onto him.

* * *

 

I awoke again to Toothless licking my face. I didn't mind it at all. He had other, more…drastic…ways to wake me up, and I was thankful he didn't use them.

"All right, all right! I'm awake!" I said to him. Sat up with my hips creaking from soreness and blearily opened my eyes. The air around me smelled a little bit like fish that had been sitting in the open for a little too long. Thanks to Toothless. He pulled back a little and stared at me like he did in the middle of the night. He was still worried.

I looked around my house, noticing Astrid and Stormfly were gone. If they had already left, morning had to be somewhere near Berk. I stood up slowly and shuffled to the door, Toothless just behind my feet. I wasn't going to apologize to him if my heel or peg collided with his chin. Well, maybe I'd feel a little sorry. He was my dragon after all.

I pulled the door open to find the village bathed in morning light. It was just barely starting to lose the characteristic orange color the sunrise typically has. A few clouds were peppering the sky, but none of them looked like rain clouds. Thank goodness. Thinking back to last night, I only heard a distant thunderclap or two. The storm was mostly rain because there was a moist sheen of water on the ground. Somehow, I felt validated. I knew it was pure coincidence, but Toothless and me arriving back home last night seemed to have an effect on the weather.

As I looked around, I saw a girl running my way. It was Astrid coming from the plaza. She sprinted up the hill. When she was about twenty feet away, Toothless hunched and began growling at her. Immediately, Astrid stopped and looked at him. She began walking slowly to me and asked, "What's gotten into him?"

"I think he's still worried about Mildew," I said, glancing at Toothless. "He probably feels the entire world is out to get him." I put my hand on the back of Toothless’ neck. His skin was mostly healed now. It didn't feel like it was going to shred to ribbons if I touched it.

Toothless slowly took his eyes off Astrid and turned in my direction, glaring defiantly at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Astrid walk cautiously toward Toothless. He must have seen her too because he tensed and began growling again.

"Would you stop!?" I asked him.

Astrid didn't give him a choice anyway. She stopped maybe a foot in front of his snout and held her hand in front of his face. He sniffed at it for a couple of seconds and held still, continuing to hold eye contact with Astrid. She slowly moved her hand to his chin and scratched gently. Toothless’ eyes lost focus. And I started breathing again.

"I think he'll be fine," Astrid noted. "Stormfly does this sometimes."

"I'm just afraid he's gonna attack someone soon. Wouldn't that be ironic…" I mumbled under my breath.

"C'mon, let's eat breakfast before we start your plan with the statue," Astrid said, totally ignoring my concern about Toothless hurting someone.

I rolled my eyes as she turned toward the great hall, but didn't object. I was hungry, and Toothless was probably starving. "C'mon, buddy," I said to him. I turned assertively toward the great hall and began walking. After about two seconds, Toothless grunted and loped toward me. This time, though, he stayed by my left side. I put my hand on his back as we walked toward the great hall. I knew Toothless and I should have been afraid of what might be on the other side of the doors after what happened recently, but I also knew I couldn't show that fear. Toothless would pick up on it immediately and go into a defensive state of mind, trying to protect me.

Astrid reached the double doors first and opened them. She walked inside, me and Toothless not long after her. As we entered, I lost every bit of self-control I had and tensed. My breath caught because I just knew someone was gonna attack Toothless. And I knew Toothless could sense my anxiety.

Predictably, Toothless stopped three-quarters of the way through the door. His tail was still outside, bathed in sunlight. And I knew exactly what he was telling me. I shouldn't go any further, lest I get injured. He was trying to protect me without hurting anyone. Or more accurately, he was trying to protect me from any future injury by getting me away from here.

I glanced around, noticing people were looking at me and Toothless, wondering about our odd behavior. _Great_ , I thought. _Why can't I just act like nothing's wrong?_

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, turning around.

I took a deep breath, trying desperately to keep from showing everyone. Turned and looked at Toothless. He had a concerned expression behind his eyes. Without saying a word, I turned again, facing Astrid and began walking forward. Toothless stayed in his spot, trying to tell me I shouldn't have been in the great hall.

Astrid and I were maybe halfway between the entrance and back of the hall when Toothless grunted and sprinted past us. He stopped at a table ten feet in front of me and turned around with an excited look in his eyes. I realized he had noticed there was an unopened basket where he stopped. And he saw it all the way from the entrance. And somehow, he knew it was for him.

"Told ya he'd be fine," Astrid said smugly. She must have planted it there earlier.

I didn't have any good replies, so I kept my mouth shut and walked over to Toothless. He was wriggling in excitement about the prospect of food and hopefully a return to normal life. Well, as normal as you can get when dragons are part of your life.

I flipped the lid open and Toothless stuck his head into the basket. He grunted eagerly, and pulled out a fish with his mouth. Looked at me as he swallowed it whole. And returned to the basket, resuming his meal in peace. Just like normal.

I sat down to find a salmon in front of me. Astrid was on my right side. But before eating, I glanced around the great hall. Noticed people were generally getting on with their lives. Some were still glaring at me and Toothless, but most of them didn't seem to care about the Night Fury nearby. I looked at Astrid, took a deep breath and said, "Thanks for all your help. Toothless and I wouldn't be here without you."

"That's why we're here, right?" she said. "To pick each other up." She paused before wrapping her left arm around me.

I sat there, the salmon in front of me growing colder by the second, and I didn't care. Both Astrid and Toothless had this…this magic that made me forget about any problems I had. Maybe that's why I wanted to be around them.

"HEY, ASTRID!" a voice echoed throughout the great hall. I winced slightly, knowing Snotlout could have been heard all the way to Dragon Island. "WHATCHA DOIN'!?" Astrid rolled her eyes with a quiet groan.

I had mostly gotten over the childish embarrassment I had when Astrid and I were inching too close to each other. Today, I didn't care one bit about Snotlout. Unfortunately, he did a great job of getting everybody's attention focused on us.

I broke off from our hug and looked at Snotlout, who was probably thirty feet away from us. No wonder he had to yell. Responding from here would have been exactly what he wanted. So I stayed mute, not giving anything away with my expression.

The great hall had gone deathly quiet. Even Toothless was focusing on Snotlout, ready to attack him.

Snotlout glanced around the great hall, finally noticing everyone was riveted to him. "Wh-what? Why is everyone staring at me?"

"If you're gonna scream at the top of your lungs, then do it outside!" Gobber shouted to him. He pushed Snotlout toward the double doors, Snotlout protesting the entire way. They left the great hall, and people slowly resumed their activities before Snotlout interrupted them.

"Good riddance," I mumbled. And started eating. The magic of that moment before Snotlout barged in was gone. I wished it wasn't so fleeting and spontaneous. But maybe that's why we called it "magic."

I finished my salmon with Toothless impatiently waiting on me. Took the dish to the back of the hall to be cleaned. Returned and found Toothless staring intently in my direction, probably itching for a flight. I wasn't gonna tease him about it, not when I had to make a new saddle, stirrup, connecting rods and tail fin. _This_ was gonna be a long day. Especially because Toothless didn't understand everything had been destroyed by the lightning bolt we took a few days ago.

Astrid and I exited the great hall side-by-side with Toothless in tow. He grunted almost every step of the way, nudging my left hand several times with his snout.

"Okay, what is it, bud?" I asked him. Turned around and saw that I-want-something look behind his eyes. Definitely a flight. Great. I had no idea how to quell his desire to get airborne. Toothless just didn't understand that making a saddle among other pieces of equipment took a lot of time.

Astrid inferred what Toothless was after and said, "I think he wants-"

"Don't say it," I interrupted. "He'll throw a fit once he finds out he can't." Astrid looked at me with a confused face, then realized I was being serious. "Somehow, I've got to keep him occupied for the day while I remake his saddle and tail fin." I sighed and plodded my way to the forge. Toothless followed me in and lay down near my study. Maybe keeping him occupied was going to be easier than I thought.

"I'll help you keep an eye on him," Astrid said as I walked toward my study.

"Thanks," I said. She left and joined a small crowd of Vikings surrounding my dad. He looked like he was giving instructions to the group.

"Glad you could join us, Hiccup," Gobber said to me from near the vista. "You're just on time to help us turn the perches back into scrap iron."

"One moment," I said. I ducked into my study and rummaged around the sheets of parchment I had strewn about. I found the saddle and tail fin sketches quickly. Near the bottom of a stack of designs was the connecting rods sketch. And tacked to the wall was the stirrup. I was ready.

I exited my study and faced Gobber. "Can I please do something else? Toothless needs a new saddle and tail fin." I held up the designs I had scribbled onto the parchment sheets as if they would help Gobber understand.

He stared at me for a few seconds, then said in resignation, "Okay. But once you get Toothless ready, you're recruiting your own help for moving the statue."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Got it. Thanks." And without further delay, I started gathering the scrap iron and leather for the tail fin.

It was different working around other people coming and going from the forge. Normally, I could go wherever I pleased, and do whatever I wanted. When I needed iron melted or heated, I never had to wait. Gobber and I were the only people in Berk allowed to use the entire forge. But today, there were several times I had to wait my turn for heating iron. Or wait my turn to use the anvil. Because Gobber and several other Vikings were either cutting iron or melting small pieces back into scrap metal. Somehow, I never complained, but I realized just how impatient I was when working in the forge. I was completely used to making things _now_. Not waiting to make them later.

Throughout the day, I kept an eye on Toothless, making sure he didn't become destructive or obnoxious out of boredom. He simply kept his eyes shut, and his head on his paws, generally ignoring people around him. For a moment, I wondered how in the world he knew to keep calm in the forge.

Every so often, I walked up to him and gently stroked his head. And every time was the same. He groaned softly, opened his eyes and looked at me. I wasn't sure if he understood what I was doing, but I certainly appreciated his patience. I really enjoyed listening to him murmur as I scratched under his chin or massaged under his wings. Until the storms had lain siege to Berk, I generally took petting Toothless for granted. But now, paying attention to his croons seemed like the best music I had ever heard. It definitely helped keep me relaxed through the day.

Every time I fitted a new piece of equipment to Toothless, I stopped to reward him for his patience with my attention. I started with his tail fin, completing and fitting it to Toothless within an hour. The saddle and stirrup were next, which took about six hours to make. Even though I had plans and numbers to work with, saddles were always tricky because there were no premade frames. Same with the stirrup. The sketches simply made it easier to get to the final product, not quicker. The connecting rods were unbelievably simple compared to everything else. Just before I started trying to make them, I realized I had several spares in my study.

By the time the sky was turning light orange, I had Toothless outfitted with a new saddle, stirrup, connecting rods and a tail fin. I really liked the one Gobber had made after our fight against the Red Death, so I simply made another fin with red leather and a caricature of a skull painted in white.

As soon as I connected the stirrup to the rods leading to the fin, Toothless jumped up and almost tackled me in anticipation.

"All right, bud," I said to him. "Yes, I know you're happy." I hugged him gently around his neck, thankful the process today had gone smoothly. I was hungry, and Toothless probably was too, but we had more important things on the schedule.

I pulled away from Toothless and looked into his eyes. I knew he couldn't wait any longer, so I said quietly, "Let's go flying, bud."

Toothless lunged forward, wriggling in excitement and anticipation. I climbed onto the saddle and hooked in with my peg. And hoped all my hard work wouldn't have to be redone soon.

Toothless bounded out of the forge and leapt into the air without waiting for me to be ready. And I didn't blame him. He deserved to fly again. And I wanted to keep the Night Fury in Berk happy.

I listened to the air whistling past my ears. The ground, where most of our problems were, was below. Nothing could catch up to us here. I let Toothless decide the course we were going to take for our flight and how long he wanted to stay airborne. I simply followed his lead, remembering how amazing it felt to be soaring through the sky like this again. I didn't care if Toothless never came down to earth. Being in the air was almost an addiction for us. And I didn't want it any other way. There were several pleasures I had taken for granted until recently, and it felt like I was experiencing them for the first time again.

* * *

 

Toothless finally landed, panting slightly. I couldn't remember where we went or how long the flight lasted. Didn't care. I dismounted his saddle and hugged him tightly around his neck. Pulled back and saw something in his eyes I hadn't seen for what seemed like ages.

Friendship.

I soaked up the feelings in the air around me in a deep breath. Being around Toothless like this was infinitely better than getting revenge on Mildew. I scratched underneath his chin just before we headed home, listening to him murmur in happiness.

I only had one thought as we entered my house for the night.

_I love my dragon._


	14. Chapter 14

Normally, Toothless was the one who decided when I should be awake. When I was supposed to get out of bed in the mornings. It was one of the "perks" of being around a Night Fury. But today, I had the rare opportunity to wake him up.

I sat up quietly, completely alert to everything around me. Toothless was breathing rhythmically on his rock, saddle still on his back and connected to the tail fin I had made yesterday. I looked at my hands and flexed them. They were still sore from all the blacksmithing I did, followed by holding onto Toothless’ saddle while we were airborne. I couldn't complain. Not when we had a morning flight that was imminent.

I slid out of bed and crept over to Toothless. In the back of my mind, I had a sinking feeling that I was gonna startle him awake and he'd attack me in panic. And for once in my life, I listened to that quiet, nagging doubt. So I sat down on the floor near Toothless’ head, listening to him sleeping peacefully.

I thought about how he always woke me up. Somehow, he'd pad over to my bed in complete silence and begin licking me in the face or nudging my arm with his snout while murmuring gently. He never tried to startle me.

Slowly, I reached out and stroked Toothless on his cheek. He sighed with a low rumble and leaned his head slightly toward my hand. But he didn't open his eyes, so I moved to the top of his head and began knuckling on it gently. Toothless murmured again with another deep breath and opened his eyes. They slowly focused on me.

"Hey there, bud," I whispered to him.

Toothless craned his neck slightly and licked my hand, telling me I had awoken him. I brought my hand back to my side as he stood gingerly on all fours and tromped off his rock. He stretched and yawned with a quiet moan and looked at me. I was still sitting on the floor, so Toothless towered above me, even though he was on all fours.

I got to a kneeling position and shuffled toward Toothless. And wrapped his neck in a hug. I was grateful he was generally tolerant of me smothering him with affection like this. I knew I was spoiling him rotten, but I didn't care. I only hoped I wouldn't forget what he meant to me. Kinda like what had happened before we escaped Mildew's wrath. I had barely acknowledged Toothless’ presence in my life, like I was taking him for granted.

I let go of Toothless and looked him in the eyes. I felt that connection again, that little spark of "magic" or whatever I was supposed to call it. Toothless was apparently an expert with it because he could seemingly channel that magic at will.

"Let's go flying, bud," I suggested.

Toothless’ eyes brightened almost immediately. Without waiting for me, he bounded down the stairs and grunted once he reached the door. He was telling me to hurry so that he could get back into the air. Where he belonged.

"All right, I'm coming," I said in mock annoyance to him as I plodded down the stairs. I never tried to make him wait, but I couldn't help taking in his eagerly impatient expression he always had when a flight was about to happen.

I opened the door for him, and he sprinted out. Toothless got maybe ten feet away from our stoop, turned around and looked at me. I took my time getting to him. Got on his saddle and hooked in with my peg. And without waiting, Toothless leapt into the air.

I felt everything through his sides, like his breath coming in massive gasps. His wings pumping up and down so he could touch the sky. Like usual, I let Toothless decide on our course. He always seemed to end up in a better mood when I simply followed his lead, rather than try to direct him.

I watched as our village slowly receded underneath us. Looked forward. Toothless seemed to be heading for one of his favorite spots just off of the main island of Berk. It was a large stone arch with a generally flat top. Somehow, grass had taken root there, like someone had planted it. And the top was large enough for two dragons and their riders to fit.

Predictably, Toothless landed where I was looking. Front legs first, then back legs, making a hollow _ka-thump_ sound. Underneath us, the ocean was crashing against the rock walls. And about half a mile away was Berk.

I dismounted from Toothless’ back and sat down next to him, taking in the scene. The sun was mostly up to my right, illuminating the east side of the village. The sky had lost most of its orange from sunrise, bathing the area in bright sunshine. I took a deep breath, wondering how I had ever taken this view for granted. Toothless was next to me, and we didn't have a worry in the world.

"There you are!" a voice shouted, breaking me out of the reverie I had slipped into. I glanced to my left to find Astrid and Stormfly two seconds away from landing.

"Hey, Astrid," I said quietly after Stormfly had landed. Astrid jumped off her dragon's back and sat down next to me.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied. I was so lost in thought I could barely hold a conversation.

The statue of Thor in the middle of the plaza caught my attention. The sunlight was glinting off of it at just the right angle to leave spots in my vision.

"I'd really like to…you know…'get rid' of the statue today," I said, emphasizing the phrase "get rid."

"Do you think Stormfly, Toothless and Meatlug are gonna be enough to move it?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"I'll ask him," Astrid said, referring to Fishlegs. "You two eat breakfast." I nodded silently, still lost in the scenery. Astrid and Stormfly left our little island.

Toothless nudged my shoulder gently with a low grunt. My mind returned to the present tense as I looked at him. I silently got to my feet and climbed on his back. Hooked in and we were airborne once more. He landed about thirty feet away from the double doors leading into the great hall. About where the dragon perch used to be. The one that spawned balls of lightning. Now there were several small holes in the ground where the perch had been anchored.

I dismounted from Toothless’ back and led him toward the doors in front of us. This time, I tried to steel myself for entering the great hall. I wasn't gonna show any fear or hesitation. I must have looked pretty ridiculous sporting a determined expression just to walk into a communal area.

I opened one of the doors and walked through, Toothless behind me. We were about five steps into the great hall when Toothless began growling. He shoved his way between my right side and the tables, glaring at someone to my right. Reflexively, I glanced in that direction to find Mildew sitting awkwardly at one of the tables with his right leg ballooned to about three times the size of his left. Great. I was pretty sure he couldn't do much on one leg, but his presence was still enough to get under my skin.

"C'mon, buddy," I whispered to Toothless. I knew if we stayed here, Toothless would probably attack him, which was exactly what I didn't need. Even though Toothless loathed Mildew, an unprovoked attack would definitely be grounds for me losing Toothless. I had already lost him twice, making seemingly empty promises that I would be back for him. I didn't need to experience that feeling again.

"Toothless, let's go," I said with a little bit of impatience. Toothless wouldn't budge. It seemed like he was holding his ground so that Mildew wouldn't reach me. I gently pushed his head away from Mildew and started walking toward the back of the great hall. I wanted to show everyone, including Toothless, that Mildew wasn't worth the effort right now. Slowly, Toothless broke his staring contest and caught up with me, rubbing underneath my right hand. "Good job, bud," I said. And rubbed the top of his head. He murmured quietly, now knowing I was rewarding him for his behavior.

"Enjoy what time you have left with your dragon, boy," Mildew called tauntingly from several yards behind us.

I kept my hand on Toothless’ head, making sure he didn't turn around. And continued walking as if Mildew hadn't said anything. If he wanted to give any weight to his threat, he'd have to come up to me and Toothless. And on a painfully swollen leg? He'd definitely think twice about that. In fact, I was wondering how he was able to get from his house to here.

"Stay here, bud," I said to Toothless, directing him to a table as far from Mildew as I could get. He sat down on his haunches, looking at me. I saw the worry behind his eyes but didn't do anything about it. I turned and walked toward the back of the hall. Grabbed a basket. Filled it about three-quarters with fish. And grabbed a cooked salmon for myself. I returned to the table to find Toothless hadn't moved. Success. I put the basket down in front of him and flipped open the lid. Toothless stuck his head into the basket, grunted and pulled a fish out. He looked at me as he swallowed it whole. Like he was thanking me for the meal. I never got tired of his little routine around meal times.

I turned to my fish and began eating. Nobody came to bother me or Toothless, and I never felt like we were trapped in an invisible bubble. Thank goodness, too.

I finished my meal and took the dish and basket to the back of the hall to be washed. And returned to Toothless like it was any other day in our lives. I scratched under his chin gently, listening to him murmur in pleasure, then walked toward the back entrance to the great hall to keep from passing Mildew again.

As I ambled toward the armory with Toothless in tow, I noticed Astrid and Fishlegs were already there with their dragons. Toothless bounded past me and skidded to a halt next to Astrid with an excited grunt.

"Well, good morning to you too," she told him. I grinned, soaking in all of Toothless’ production.

"Have you seen Mildew?" Fishlegs asked as Toothless trotted back to me.

"Yeah, he somehow walked to the great hall," I said with a hint of disbelief.

"And he's still in there?" Astrid said.

"As far as I know."

Astrid turned around and grabbed several yards of rope from near the entrance to the armory. "Ready?" she asked. Without hesitation, I helped her untangle the ropes. Now was the best time to move the statue, since Mildew was probably going to be in the great hall complaining to anyone who might listen for a while.

Fishlegs and Astrid had apparently discussed how we were going to move the statue because both of them took all of the ropes up to the midsection of the statue. Meatlug hovered, while Astrid brought the ropes around to Fishlegs. She handed some of her ends to him, essentially forming a loop.

Astrid landed again and said, "Have Toothless grab a few ropes in between Meatlug and the statue."

I nodded at her and clicked in with my peg. Toothless took off, ready for another flight around the island, but this time I nudged him with my right knee. That was my signal to give me control for the flight. It was my turn to tell him where to go. Toothless grunted and relaxed, letting me direct him.

I guided Toothless to about halfway between Meatlug and the statue. He looked down and grunted as he saw the ropes. Fishlegs was holding them in bunches, forcing Toothless to grab three ropes.

"This way, bud," I said to him, directing him slowly to his right. I looked at Astrid and asked, "Ready?" She nodded.

Fishlegs and Meatlug took the initiative, aiming in the general direction of Mildew's house. Stormfly and Astrid were next, and I quickly realized Toothless’ wingspan was going to be disastrous for Astrid soon. I rolled slightly toe-up to let Toothless rise enough to get Astrid out of the wash from his wings. And it meant Toothless was going to be doing most of the lifting.

As the statue came loose from the ground, I saw it swing precariously forward, ready to crash into the earth due to the rise in the land. Rolled toe-up as far as I could and gently pulled upward on Toothless’ saddle to help him. He grunted from the effort of having to lift the statue. I didn't even think of it being too heavy for three dragons to handle. It only took two of them to put the perches together.

"C'mon, you can do this, buddy," I whispered to Toothless. He was breathing heavily as we gained altitude. Somehow, the statue had miraculously avoided crashing into anything as we lifted it. I looked toward Mildew's house. For once, I wished he didn't live so far…wait, never mind.

"Not in the vegetable garden," I called out to Astrid and Fishlegs as we neared Mildew's house. Fishlegs held up his right hand, signaling he had heard me.

Toothless was probably going to never let me hear the end of this one. This was probably a very unpleasant surprise for him, having to strain this hard simply to lift something. But he did it without any complaint. I was grateful for that. And I also knew I was gonna have to give him a big reward for cooperating. I was thinking about how I was going to do that when Astrid called out, "Get ready!" About a second later, the statue set down about twenty feet away from Mildew's house with a low _thud_. Mission accomplished.

Meatlug and Stormfly collapsed on the ground near the statue. Toothless set down with a little more grace, but it was painfully clear all three of our dragons were worn out. And it couldn't have happened in a more inconvenient spot.

I dismounted from Toothless’ back and got to his front, where his eyes were slightly unfocused from being so exhausted. His flanks were heaving in massive gasps. Every time he exhaled, he groaned slightly. I checked the other dragons and saw Stormfly and Meatlug weren't any better. And even though Mildew was hobbled for the time being, I figured he could show up at any moment.

"C'mon, Toothless," I said gently to him. Pulled on his saddle, trying to get him to walk with me. He groaned slightly and shot me a sideways glance, but slowly padded along. I checked behind us and saw Astrid and Fishlegs were guiding their dragons at a snail's pace from Mildew's house. From our vantage point, the great hall looked like a toy building, but I didn't see any sign of Mildew. Yet.

We got maybe ten feet away from my house when Toothless plopped down in the grass and moaned in exhaustion. Astrid and Fishlegs walked silently past us with their dragons. I watched them amble toward the plaza and slowly sat down next to Toothless. I was generally sure he wasn't too happy with me for the time being, and I was ready to absorb his irritation. After all, I put him through this. I stroked the top of his head and whispered, "You did great, buddy." He sighed.

From my spot next to Toothless, I watched as people went about their daily routines. The plaza in the middle of town was abuzz with several Vikings milling around, some visiting the armory, while others were headed to the docks. And in the distance, I noticed a dark, ominous cloud that meant a thunderstorm was headed our way. Half of me was sadistically happy, knowing Mildew was about to get some payback. But the other half of me was worried again. Toothless was going to be as happy about the storm as he was when we were carrying the statue. And I still had no idea how to keep him calm during a thunderstorm. But maybe tonight I could figure it out without having to worry about someone wanting to kill him.

I continued soaking up the sun and watching the scene around town unfold as Toothless fell asleep. I stroked his cheek while listening to him breathe. It sounded exactly like the bellows I used in the forge.

* * *

 

As the sky darkened, I made sure to check that our skylight was still covered. It was. Toothless was next to me, still moping slightly that I had worn him out earlier today. We were inside, and there was a basket of fish about six feet away from Toothless. I knew he could smell it because I saw his snout move when I brought it in. But he simply glanced at me with a short groan and then looked away.

Toothless being moody like this didn't bode well for the imminent thunderstorm coming our way. If he started panicking, I knew without a doubt there was nothing I could do to calm him down. But for now, I let him have his space. I sat at the table with a cooked fish and ate in silence, watching over my dragon. I knew he'd eventually come around, but it didn't help me feel any better right now.

The door opened and closed as my dad walked in. He paused for a beat, then asked, "What's wrong with Toothless?"

I turned on my seat, wondering how my dad had missed the obvious absence of the statue in the center of town. "I, uh, really wore him out today flying."

"The statue?" my dad inferred. I nodded. "He should be fine tomorrow." And he left it at that. Even if my dad wasn't happy with my decision to drop the statue near Mildew's house, it wasn't like we could do anything about it now. Inside, I grinned, knowing my revenge against Mildew was coming one way or another.

A low rumble from outside brought me back to reality. I saw Toothless tense slightly, reacting to the thunder he hated so much. I stayed where I was, making sure not to intervene unless I had to. Toothless still had a slightly frustrated look on his face.

Outside, a light patter started, soon becoming a wall of water crashing down on Berk. It was punctuated by thunderclaps, some sounding like loud rumbles and others like explosions. Toothless was growing more tense by the minute, but the only way I was going to console him was if he began truly panicking.

A sharp thunderclap sounded, making me reflexively cover my ears even though it was too late. Toothless jumped up and ran upstairs in a black flash. I heard his quavering moans as he shivered in fright.

I slowly stood and grabbed the basket of fish. Got it outside before the entire house began smelling like fish. And walked upstairs calmly, letting Toothless know I wasn't going to leave him. He was on his rock, shaking in fear, his eyes unable to focus on anything in particular. I slowly walked toward him and sat down gently on his rock. I made sure he could see what I was doing, so I reached out slightly and put my hand on his left paw. I had remembered this trick helped calm Toothless down for at least a little while, so I decided to try it again.

Toothless quickly brought his focus to my hand and looked at it for a second. He haltingly licked my hand, seemingly grateful for my presence.

There was another thunderclap that sounded the same as a few moments earlier. I guessed it was from lightning hitting the statue. Toothless curled slightly around my hand, trying to keep from relinquishing his grip on me. Unlike last time, when I thought he was going to bite my hand off, I kept it there. Hopefully, I'd be able to see it if he moved to bite my hand or arm.

Another loud crack sounded, and Toothless groaned, his eyes tightly shut. He wrapped tighter around my hand.

"It's gonna be okay, bud," I whispered to him. It probably didn't help, but I felt like it needed to be said. Toothless simply continued to shake in fear, clinging to my arm like his life depended on it.

As the storm slowly moved out to sea, I noticed Toothless had relaxed slightly. I stood, my back, hips and knees aching from sitting for so long. I grabbed my pillow and blanket and put them on the floor, next to Toothless’ rock. Somehow, I felt sleeping on the floor next to Toothless was the right thing to do. It seemed like there was a barrier between me and him when I was in my bed. But on the floor, I knew he didn't have to look very far to find me. He watched me with fearful eyes as I sat down, becoming smaller than him. In his eyes, I became someone he needed to protect. I felt validated when I saw his eyes soften, like he was ready to defend me from anything. Toothless grunted slightly and slid off his rock. And nudged my right shoulder with his snout. He was returning to normal. No more foul mood.

"Thanks, buddy," I said to him. I scratched underneath his chin. Toothless’ eyes lost focus as he relaxed, even though there was still thunder outside. Most of the sound was a low rumble with an occasional explosion. Toothless visibly tensed every time the sound got too loud for him, but I must have gotten lucky for once because he didn't panic after I consoled him.

I put my head on my pillow, exhausted from moving the statue and trying to get Toothless out of his foul mood. As I fell asleep, Toothless got back onto his rock, charred it and lay down, watching protectively over me.


	15. Chapter 15

A low groan woke me up. I felt a gentle nudge at my right shoulder. It was Toothless, telling me I needed to take him on a flight. Just like normal.

"Mm. G'morning, buddy," I said from the floor with a yawn. Sat up. Toothless towered over me as he sat back on his haunches with his usual expectant look. There was no trace of the sour mood I had put him in yesterday after moving the statue to Mildew's house. I knew we needed to truly get rid of it soon, but I felt satisfied knowing Mildew was experiencing some of the misfortune Toothless and I had endured.

Not to say that feeling was better than having a Night Fury who was ready for a flight sitting in front of me. It wasn't. Toothless could always make me feel better about anything, and there were no consequences about it either.

I slowly got to a standing position and trudged over to the wash basin fifteen feet away from me. Threw some water on my face in an effort to wake up, then turned back to Toothless.

"It's flying time, Toothless," I said to him. He knew the word "fly" and any of its forms like he knew how to shoot a fireball. And Toothless’ antics before we were airborne never got old. He nearly jumped from the second floor to the ground, ran to the door and whirled around, waiting for me. I was always too slow for him because I had to take the stairs. I opened the door for him, and he bounded out with an excited grunt, then turned again, waiting impatiently for me. This was routine for us, and I didn't want it any other way. I wished I could get as excited as Toothless about an everyday activity.

I hooked in with my peg after getting on his back, and he took off. Like most flights around Berk, I let Toothless decide where we were headed. I simply followed his lead, adjusting the tail fin as he flew.

Toothless took me on a long flight around the island this morning. Including around the far side of the mountain. I didn't care one bit. I just wanted him to enjoy his flights. This was the closest he was ever going to get to being a free dragon again.

My mind paused, thinking about that. Flying had become a second nature to me, so it took no effort to follow Toothless’ guidance with my peg. But when I was hooked into the stirrup and on his back, that was the next-best thing to being completely free. I thought back to when I was barely learning to fly on Toothless’ back, when I still had both feet. I thought about how willing Toothless was to share his life with me after he realized I could help him get back into the air. I thought about how lucky I was to find him that first day over a year ago. And I realized how lucky I was _now_. Toothless was still here, still part of my life. And we were flying. How many people in the world could say they got to fly on a dragon's back?

I sighed in elation as Toothless made a beeline from the far side of the island toward the great hall. He had apparently decided it was time for breakfast.

Toothless landed several yards short of the front entrance to the great hall. The doors were slightly ajar, which wasn't too uncommon during the summer months. As we neared the entrance, Mildew's voice caught my attention. He was in the great hall trying to get people to believe him about something. Probably the statue. After a couple seconds of listening, I heard the words "Hiccup" and "Night Fury" within the same sentence. He was blaming me and Toothless for his misfortune. And I wasn't surprised in the least bit.

I knew Toothless and I were going to be the talk of the town by noon today. Staying hidden would only worsen the rumors. Against my better judgment, I decided to follow Astrid's advice she had given me in hindsight when Toothless and I were stranded. Just stand up to Mildew. I had a reason. Or better yet, I had a way to (hopefully) get the focus on him.

I opened the doors enough to let Toothless through. Looked into the great hall and almost fell down laughing. Mildew was railing at the top of his lungs to a crowd of maybe five people. And I could tell by most of their expressions they didn't care one bit. Everyone else in the great hall had moved toward the edges and was immersed in their food and drink.

Mildew paused briefly and said across the hall, "You've got nerve to come here, boy." His speech was slurred a little, so he must have been short on sleep. "You and that _Night Fury_ of yours, the dragon that continually destroys Berk," he started, slurring the words "Night Fury." But I didn't pay attention to the rest of what he said. I simply walked forward with my hand on the back of Toothless’ neck. There was a little bit of urgency in my touch because I was trying to tell him not to pay attention to Mildew.

"Well!?" Mildew shouted. "Are you going to explain for yourself? Or how about your dragon?"

I simply looked forward and walked past him. I felt Toothless tense and begin turning toward Mildew, so I pushed his head toward me without saying a word. I wasn't going to give Mildew or Toothless the chance to come to blows because I knew Toothless would be the one to strike first.

It didn't take long for people to resume their routines as if nothing had happened. I stole a quick glance at Mildew and saw his shoulders were slumped.

Toothless and I continued walking to a table as far from Mildew as we could get. "Stay here, bud," I told him. He sat down on his haunches and looked at me, waiting for his breakfast. And just like normal, I grabbed a basket of fish and a plate with a salmon on it. Put the basket in front of Toothless and flipped the lid open. Toothless’ eyes widened as he stuck his head into the basket. He grunted and pulled a fish out. Swallowed it whole. And continued in silence. I loved his little routine around mealtimes.

I finished my meal at about the same time as Toothless. Wasn't that hungry, so I gave the half-fish left over to Toothless. He was smart enough to make sure it didn't go to waste. I took the basket and dish to the back of the great hall for washing and returned to Toothless. And somehow, Mildew had limped his way in between us and either exit of the hall. He was making his best effort to glare at us. Toothless returned the favor by growling at him. I nearly giggled from the sight of his right leg. It was still grotesquely ballooned.

I simply stood there in silence, waiting for Mildew to make the first move. Even if it took all day.

"You go on with your life like it's completely normal, boy," he said. I kept waiting. "You don't understand how much damage and chaos these dragons cause. All you do is see some kind of potential that doesn't even exist."

I blinked. Toothless growled. A few people had gathered around us. Since Mildew was closest to any exit, the crowd began forming around him.

"I still can't fathom why you won't let me teach you the truth about dragons. I've given you every opportunity in the world, and you are stubborn, like your father." Mildew paused, waiting for any signal from me. It was everything I could do to keep my hand on the back of Toothless’ neck. All I needed to do was say "plasma blast," and Toothless would shoot a fireball directly at Mildew. But I stayed silent, keeping a slight pressure on Toothless’ neck toward my side. It was my signal to him to stay with me. And above all, I remained silent.

"I know you can talk," Mildew continued. "Unless, of course, your _Night Fury_ bit out your tongue." He slurred the words "Night Fury" again. I simply looked at him, waiting for an opening. Some of the crowd that had gathered around us simply walked off. Other people, however, gathered in their place. It almost felt like me and Toothless against all of Berk. I was duly impressed that Mildew hadn't brought up the statue yet. He must have been smart enough to get the focus on me and Toothless.

There was a pause in our one-sided conversation. To me, it sounded like all the air had been sucked out of the great hall.

"If you're just going to stand there, then I'll help you with your dragon problem," he said cryptically. But there was no interpretation needed when he stepped forward.

"Uh-uh," I said to him. And made a show of taking my hand off of Toothless’ neck except for my index finger. "I won't stop him," I warned. Toothless must have felt me begin to let go because he snarled at Mildew. He was definitely ready to attack.

This wasn't a good situation to be in. I knew if I let Toothless go, he'd destroy Mildew in a heartbeat. There was no way out that didn't involve pushing my way through a crowd of people. And holding steady with Toothless could have meant gambling with his life. The only good way out of this conundrum was for Mildew to walk away, something I was pretty sure he wouldn't do when there was a dragon named Toothless around.

Leaning on his walking staff, he used his right hand to pull something out of his belt. He winced in pain as a knife appeared in his hand.

_Oh, no_ , I thought. _Somebody, please stop him_.

Mildew grinned slightly as he shuffled closer to Toothless, holding eye contact with him. "Are you _that_ willing to sacrifice your dragon?" he asked.

"I warned you," I whispered to him.

"What…?" he asked, turning to me.

"Plasma blast," I said flatly, looking at Toothless. I took my finger off Toothless’ neck, making a show of bringing my arm back to my side. And Toothless didn't need to be told twice. Without warning, he shot a blue fireball at Mildew's outstretched right hand. It exploded with a hollow _bang_ that reverberated in the great hall. The fireball wrenched the knife out of Mildew's hand, and it flew straight backward. Through pure luck, there was nobody standing in its path, so the knife clattered harmlessly into the wall a good twenty feet behind Mildew.

Mildew's arm shot backward as his face contorted in pain from being burned. He grabbed onto his forearm and groaned, crouching awkwardly because of his leg. The crowd around Mildew had no time to register what had happened, because they dispersed quickly, panicking that a dragon had just shot a fireball in the great hall.

I knew Toothless was going to snap from panic or anger, and his first target would be dead very quickly. Amidst all the confusion, I put my hand back his neck and pulled him along with me.

"C'mon, Toothless!" I whispered to him. Mildew was still crouched in a ball, still holding his right hand in pain and still groaning slightly. I watched as he slowly flexed his hand, trying to get some kind of movement back. This was a perfect distraction for us, except for Toothless glaring at Mildew, making sure he wouldn't try to attack again.

I stepped between my dragon and Mildew and made eye contact with Toothless. "C'mon, bud," I said, trying to coax him toward me. He seemed to snap out of his trance and walked cautiously in my direction. I held eye contact with him as I strode backwards, checking every so often to make sure I wouldn't collide with any Vikings or tables on our way out. And through it all, Toothless followed, trying to keep up with me.

It didn't take long for me to bump into the double doors, which I pushed open. Toothless followed me outside. My first thought was the armory. It was nearby, and only a scant few people were ever allowed inside. And there was only one dragon who had permission to be in there.

I directed Toothless into the armory and shut the door behind us. The vista was closed for now, although Gobber would show up soon for blacksmithing.

I put my hands on my knees and heaved a massive sigh of relief, while Toothless stared at me with a concerned look on his face. For now, we were safe. I hugged Toothless tightly, thankful we had somehow gotten out of that mess without seriously hurting anyone.

"I'm sorry, bud," I choked out. "I wish you didn't have to go through this."

"Hiccup, are you in there?" a voice asked through the closed vista. It was Astrid. I couldn't move, so after a moment, the side entrance opened to reveal her standing in slight disbelief. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't let go of Toothless. And I didn't even look at Astrid. She was silent for a short time, then said, "Hiccup, some of the Vikings are saying Toothless tried to kill Mildew."

I groaned in frustration, knowing Mildew had subconsciously coached them into skewing the facts. "Whatever," I said quietly. "Let them say that."

"What really happened?" she asked.

I took a deep breath without relinquishing my hold on Toothless. He simply sat there, letting me get all of my worry out. "Mildew tried to stab Toothless with a knife. I had Toothless shoot a fireball at him." Slowly, my arms relaxed, and I let go of Toothless, sitting down on the wooden floor of the armory. Toothless moved forward slightly with a grunt, like he was gonna watch over me.

Astrid stroked Toothless’ head gently. He turned toward her and leaned into her hand with his eyes closed. "You did what you had to," she said.

Outside, several muffled voices were yelling something. After they finished, I heard my dad reply, "Uh-huh. I'll check on him to make sure."

Two seconds later, the armory door was filled with my dad's silhouette. "Did Toothless try to kill Mildew?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Mildew pulled out a knife, and I told Toothless to shoot it out of his hand with a fireball."

"Is anyone hurt?"

I shrugged. "Mildew. He has a swollen leg and his hand is burned."

My dad rolled his eyes with a soft groan. "I think that statue could stay there for a few more days," he said in annoyance.

I looked up at him, flabbergasted. Before I could say anything, my dad continued. "If he's going to continue trying to incriminate you and your dragon, he's going to suffer the consequences. I am tired of his lies."

This was too good to believe. I hadn't even sought my dad's permission to move the statue to Mildew's house. I just wanted the revenge. Now, my dad didn't seem to be in a hurry to move the statue.

"Th-thanks," I stuttered, still looking up from the floor. My dad nodded and turned around. And found Mildew, who was ready to blast some choice words at him. "I'm only going to say this once," he told Mildew without waiting for him to say something. "As long as you target my son, his dragon or any other dragon on Berk, that statue will stay next to your house. And I think we have another thunderstorm coming tonight."

My dad started walking away from the armory, taking Mildew and his attention with him. Not to mention Fungus. Mildew began turning red, just like the burn Toothless had left on his hand. But he seemed to have enough composure to keep from yelling obscenities at my dad. Mildew shouted something anyway, limping along with him. I didn't pay attention to what he said, but I saw my dad continue walking in complete ignorance, Mildew struggling to keep up.

"Good riddance," I mumbled under my breath. I put my head in my hands because I didn't want to deal with this nonsense anymore.

I heard Toothless moan quietly. He nudged into my forearm with a gentle _whuff_. I looked at him, finding a concerned expression on his face again.

"Toothless thinks you're important," Astrid said, pointing out the obvious. She sat down next to me. "As long as he's around, you're gonna be safe."

Toothless nudged his snout into my shoulder, trying to let me know he wasn't going to leave me. And as usual, I started feeling better about myself. Because he had this magic in him that I just couldn't explain.

"Promise me you won't leave him," she said.

I thought about what she told me to do. It wasn't like I was going to make an empty promise to Toothless. But I realized what I had inadvertently put him through. I didn't stand up to Mildew when I should have, and it nearly cost us our lives. Toothless took the brunt of that lightning bolt because of my indecision. He took the punishment that was probably meant for me. Parts of his skin nearly fell off, and he was almost killed by Mildew at least once. And after all that, he was still here for me. Toothless didn't give up on me because I was "weak." I felt like he was saying he still loved me, no matter what.

I leaned forward and wrapped Toothless in another hug. He grunted, knowing I had paid attention to what both he and Astrid said. "I promise."


End file.
